eBay Exploring Cryptocurrency Payments

News
Mon, 05/03/2021 - 14:55
Cover image via stock.adobe.com
Read U.TODAY on
Google News

E-commerce giant eBay is considering adding cryptocurrencies as a new payment option, CEO Jamie Iannone told CNBC Monday:

We're expanding the types of payments that we take... we'll continue to look at other options like cryptocurrency. 

On top of that, the company is looking into facilitating NFT sales on its platform.

As reported by U.Today, eBay was rumored to get into crypto back in May 2019 based on an ad at a Consensus conference. However, the gossip was quickly shut down by the company's spokesperson:

Cryptocurrency is not accepted as a form of payment on the eBay platform, nor is it part of our payments strategy.

At this point, it seems like crypto is already too big for the company to ignore, but the decision about whether or not it will enable the new payment method is not set in stone yet.

Related
Tether's Market Cap Hits \$40 Billion, Matching eBay

eBay originally started considering accepting Bitcoin for payments back in 2013, but it ended up shelving the plan.

PayPal, eBay's former subsidiary, started allowing its U.S. customers to hold and trade cryptocurrencies last year before enabling crypto merchant payments in late March.