Amazon Set to Hire a Digital Currency Lead As They’re ‘Inspired’ By Crypto

E-commerce giant Amazon is dipping its finger deeper into the crypto and blockchain worlds as it posted an ad looking to hire a new executive to oversee their digital currency strategy.

The position is for a ‘Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead’ who “want[s] to innovate on behalf of customers within the payments and financial systems” of Amazon.

The company’s Payments Acceptance & Experience team is looking for an “experienced product leader” who will work on developing Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap. They will be required to work closely with teams across Amazon to develop the roadmap “including the customer experience, technical strategy and capabilities as well as the launch strategy.”

This person will also be required to leverage their expertise in cryptocurrency, blockchain, Distributed Ledger, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in order to “develop the case for the capabilities which should be developed, drive overall vision and product strategy, and gain leadership buy-in and investment for new capabilities.”

While a Bachelor’s Degree is a basic qualification, MBA or equivalent experience is preferred. Also needed are a minimum of ten years of experience in product or program management, product marketing, business development or technology, as well as a deep understanding of the digital / cryptocurrency ecosystem and related technologies, among other qualifications.

Based on this post alone, it is not clear if Amazon is thinking about or plans to launch its own digital currency, or how that would look like.

“We’re inspired by the innovation happening in the cryptocurrency space and are exploring what this could look like on Amazon. We believe the future will be built on new technologies that enable modern, fast, and inexpensive payments, and hope to bring that future to Amazon customers as soon as possible,” an Amazon spokesperson told Cryptonews.com, without elaborating any further.

In February this year, Amazon indicated that it was prepared to explore the world of “digital currencies” by launching what appeared to be a Mexico-based pilot project.

In a job posting for a Software Development Manager, the firm said that it was seeking to “[build] a tech team to build innovative payment products for customers in emerging markets,” and that they “are looking for a leader to help us launch a new payment product starting with Mexico as our initial launch country” – a product that would “enable customers to convert their cash [into] digital currency.”

The company made no mention of blockchain technology or cryptoassets at the time.

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Learn more:
– Amazon Building ‘Digital Currency’ Team for ‘New Payment Product’
– Crypto World Waits to See What Post-Bezos-era Amazon Will Bring

– Did Amazon Just Kill One of the Oldest Bitcoin Companies, Purse?
– Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google – Who Will Follow Facebook’s Libra?
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(Updated at 14:57 UTC with a quote from an Amazon spokesperson.)