Key Points
- Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, ex-Binance CEO, urges Amazon to start accepting Bitcoin as payment.
- Amazon shareholders are pushing for Bitcoin to be added to the company’s strategic reserve.
Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, has proposed that Amazon should begin accepting Bitcoin as a payment method. This comes as Amazon shareholders are urging the tech behemoth to consider incorporating Bitcoin into its financial reserves.
Bitcoin as a Payment Method
In response to the shareholders’ request, CZ suggested that Amazon could gain a better understanding of Bitcoin’s value compared to traditional currencies by accepting it as payment for their online marketplace. This, he argued, could pave the way for the company to add the digital asset to their reserves.
CZ’s suggestion was made in a recent post, where he simply wrote, “Accept Bitcoin payments?”
Bitcoin vs. Traditional Payment Methods
However, in a separate post, Dash’s Joel Valenzuela questioned why Bitcoin should be accepted for Amazon payment when it is generally considered inferior to other cryptocurrencies as a payment method.
CZ conceded that he had to wait 15 minutes for a Bitcoin payment to be confirmed when he made a purchase worth $17.08. Despite this, he maintained that Bitcoin is a better payment option than traditional finance options like credit transfers, which can take longer to process if there’s an error.
Many comments under CZ’s post expressed hope that Amazon may eventually invest in Bitcoin. The National Center for Public Policy Research, a global conservative think tank, previously proposed that Amazon should add Bitcoin to its strategic reserve.
The think tank believes that as a significant portion of Amazon’s total assets are stored in cash, cash equivalents, and government bonds, the company’s billion-dollar shareholder value is not adequately protected due to the weakening of cash and bond yields.
Thus, the NCPPR argued that Amazon has a responsibility to add assets to its treasury that are not tied to traditional finances, such as Bitcoin. While the proposal acknowledges Bitcoin’s volatile nature, it suggests that Amazon should diversify its balance sheet by investing at least 5% of its assets in Bitcoin.