eBay Crypto Rumor Kills Once Chance of a Drama-Free Consensus 2019

By CCN.com: When Consensus 2019 attendees heard that eBay was preparing to accept cryptos, the news spread quickly.

However, over the course of the New York Blockchain week, their hopes were dashed. eBay flat out responded to inquiries  last week, stating that cryptos aren’t accepted on its platform. Furthermore, it said accepting cryptos is not a part of its payments strategy.

What Happened?

Once it became clear that eBay still wasn’t ready to accept crypto, many speculated more.

Others speculated about what this means for Amazon.

eBay Finally Quashes Rumors

The speculation rumor mill ramped up due to some promotional adverts that were spotted at  Consensus 2019 conference held in New York this week. CCN.com reported that the adverts were leaked on the Telegram channel @PatronsOfTheMoon .

CCN.com warned to be cautious about all this because eBay hadn’t confirmed any crypto-related plans. CCN.com pointed out that the adverts suggested that eBay was about to enter the cryptocurrency arena, which would be a major mainstream breakthrough.

Hopes Not Completely Dashed

While the company denies any crypto plans, the eBay marketplace has been widely linked to bitcoin payment gateway UTRUST. UTRUST hired former eBay and PayPal executive Sanja Kon as VP of Global Partnerships in 2018. So a partnership between UTRUST and eBay would be a logical conclusion, CCN.com reported.

In a statement at the time, UTRUST said :

“Sanja’s experience at PayPal and eBay makes her the perfect person to help UTRUST drive merchant adoption of our crypto-payments platform… We anticipate that she will be a key driver in elevating UTRUST’s brand in the crypto-commerce space and ultimately the future of online payments industry.”

This was posted before the eBay rumor was dispelled.

CCN.com also reported that eBay could be eyeing the digital collectibles market, which has been made famous by Cryptokitties. The potential of digital collectibles was made real by Ethereum, for the first time offering a platform for truly unique, one-of-a-kind digital assets.

Then there’s PayPal. It’s reportedly pursuing blockchain and cryptocurrency projects, Yahoo Finance  reports.

PayPal’s C-suite folks have been skeptical about cryptos. However, one of the members of the company’s board begs to differ. Last month, PayPal director Wences Casares said that bitcoin’s chances of succeeding exceed 50 percent, as earlier reported by CCN.com.

About the Author

Tedra DeSue

If you can buy it, trade it, invest in it, or sell it, I write about it. For more than 20 years, I've covered all things finance. Based in Atlanta, Ga., I threw myself into covering the crypto space with a keen understanding that it would be an industry disruptor. I'm in constant search for the real Satoshi Nakamoto!

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