eBay Exploring Crypto Payments for 187 Million Buyers

E-commerce titan eBay says it is open to adding crypto payments to its platform as the emerging asset class attracts more attention.

In a new CNBC interview, eBay chief executive Jamie Iannone says the company is always looking to add new payment options for its users.

“One of the great things about our managed payments is we’re expanding the types of payments that we take. We now take Apple Pay and Google Pay, more choices for buyers. We’ll continue to look at other options like cryptocurrency.”

On top of possibly integrating crypto into its payment options, Iannone highlights that the e-commerce giant is looking at the emerging non-fungible token (NFT) subsector.

NFT’s are verifiably unique blockchain-based items such as images, videos or music, with properties that can be thought of as certificates of ownership. According to Iannone, eBay’s massive user base makes it an ideal platform where artists and creators can cash in on their NFTs.

“One of the great things about eBay is when there’s a new trend, it just shows up on eBay. That’s what we’re seeing in areas like NFT, which we’re looking at how we can explore that better because eBay is really known as the place to transact goods. With 187 million buyers on the platform, this is the place that sellers come to get scaled demand…

We’re looking at [NFTs] and exploring opportunities on how we can enable it on eBay in an easy way. When you think about collectibles, everything that’s really collectible has been on eBay for decades.”