Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC on Thursday he doesn’t own any bitcoin, but that he’s optimistic about the future of cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens.
“I don’t have bitcoin myself,” Jassy told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in a “Squawk Box” interview. “You know, I expect that NFTs will continue to grow very significantly.”
“We’re not probably close to adding crypto as a payment mechanism in our retail business, but I do believe over time that you’ll see crypto become bigger,” added Jassy, who was interviewed after he released his first annual shareholder letter since taking over the helm from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Amazon has previously signaled an interest in cryptocurrency. Last year, it was looking to add a digital currency and blockchain expert to its payments team to help develop Amazon’s “strategy and product roadmap” around the technologies.
Amazon may not be close to adding crypto as a payment method, but Jassy said he could envision a future where the e-commerce giant sells NFTs. NFTs are digital assets — from music to a website domain to digital artwork — whose ownership is recorded on a blockchain.
NFTs have exploded in popularity over the past year and the technology has some overlap with cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Trading in NFTs hit $17.6 billion last year, an increase of 21,000% from 2020, according to data from Nonfungible.com.
After he was asked whether Amazon could one day sell NFTs, Jassy said: “I think it’s possible down the road on the platform.” He added that he doesn’t own any NFTs, but that he expects the technology “will continue to grow very significantly.”
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