While not completely confirmed, it appears that online marketplace eBay is about to open up to accept digital currencies as a form of payment, according to recent reports that were first leaked on a Telegram channel.
While these reports have not been confirmed by the company, it appears that executives at eBay are finally accepting the reality that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. By offering this availability to users, it would open up more options to their 180 million active buyers, as well as entice new buyers to start using the website.
The report also proposed that they may open up their marketplace to the selling of digital collectibles.
The speculation related around this proposal came from photographs of marketing materials that were reported to have come from eBay’s New York offices. At a recent event for major sponsors this year, it appears that those who were attending were informed that the online marketplace would be directly appealing to cryptocurrency users.
Pictures appeared on several websites discussing the proposal. This even included a photograph of a placard from the annual meeting with the slogan, “Virtual Currency. It’s happening on eBay.”
The thought of eBay opening up their marketplace to cryptocurrencies sent the value of this digital currency soaring. Binance Coin saw an 11.5% increase over a 24 hour period of time, reaching $23.40 after the report was first released. The value would eventually surpass $25, the first time ever in the coin’s history that it had crossed this barrier.
eBay looks to be playing a little catch-up. In March, it was announced that IPayYou would be offering the availability for people to purchase their gift cards using cryptocurrency. This was seen as a huge move by the company, as consumers can use their IPayYou wallets to be able to purchase gift cards from some of the biggest retailers on the globe, including Amazon, Best Buy, Starbucks, and even eBay gift cards.
Additionally, eBay may soon be ready to do business with payment gateway provider UTRUST. There is already a strong relationship between the two companies as former eBay and PayPal executive Sanja Kon was recently hired by UTRUST to be their vice president of global partnerships. This makes the likelihood of a partnership between the two companies seem almost inevitable.
eBay has been interested in using crypto payments since the latter part of 2017. It was at that time that eBay Vice President Scott Cutler mentioned that the company was “seriously considering” the possibility of accepting crypto payments. Now it appears that that will be the reality.
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