eBay to accept crypto payments to widen its customer base

In a recent report released by The Street, giant e-commerce marketplace eBay CEO Jamie Iannone stated the integration of crypto payment options to attract the marketplace for Gen Z and millennials. The official announcement regarding the matter will be made public during the investor’s day on March 10, 2022. 

Since the company is already handling US$85,000,000,000 of volume on its platform, he also shared that this allows eBay to explore new modes of payments.

‘We opened up Google Pay and Apple Pay. We have a partnership with Afterpay in Australia, which is a platform that appeals to Gen Z, and that is a buy now pay later platform on the marketplace. And so we continue to evaluate other forms of payments that we should take on the platform. We don’t currently accept cryptocurrency on the platform’, Iannone explained. 

However, this is not the first time the platform is introduced to blockchain technology. In May 2021, the marketplace started offering non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including the cryptographic tokens under the categories of music, entertainment, trading cards and art. 

‘So even without announcing anything or doing anything, people started trading NFT on a platform. It reminded me of many years ago when people just started selling cars when we didn’t even have a vehicle business at that point’, said Iannone.

This is the second attempt done by eBay to join the growing cryptocurrency market. In January 2014, the firm considered adding BTC payments into their platform, while waiting for the regulatory framework to finalise a decision. An eBay spokesperson stated that they would closely monitor the growth of alternative currencies since they are still in the early stages of development. 

The rising demand for digital assets has prompted eBay once again to consider including crypto payment options as an attempt to lure in more audiences from Gen Z and millennial groups. Iannone also pointed out that another Gen Z-focused initiative was recently launched, focusing on sneaker transactions which have become one of the biggest categories in the platform. 

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