eBay Exploring Cryptocurrency Payments, NFTs

In case you needed a sign that cryptocurrency has gone mainstream, but here it is: eBay CEO Jamie Iannone in a CNBC interview on Monday said that the e-commerce giant is looking at cryptocurrency as a payment option for its 187 million buyers on the platform. eBay is also exploring opportunities in the non-fungible token (NFT) business.

A growing number of companies have begun to accept virtual currencies as a form of payment, taking an asset class that had been shunned by major financial institutions a few years ago, a step closer to becoming mainstream. Tesla Inc is already accepting bitcoin as payment for its electric cars, while PayPal last year started allowing customers to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies using its online wallets.

eBay CEO Jamie Iannone was asked about how eBay is responding to the rise in popularity and adoption of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The CEO replied:

We are expanding the types of payments that we take. We now take Apple Pay and Google Pay. More choice for buyers … We will continue to look at other options, like cryptocurrency.

eBay, which disappointed investors with a weak second-quarter profit forecast last week, said it was looking at a “number of ways” to get into the NFT space. NFTs, a type of digital asset that exists on a blockchain, has exploded in popularity this year, with NFT artworks selling for millions of dollars and musicians such as the Kings of Leon rock group embracing them for their latest album.

He added: “One of the great things about eBay is that when there is a new trend, it just shows up on eBay. That’s what we are seeing in areas like NFTs [non-fungible tokens], which we are looking at how we can explore that better.” He also noted that eBay has “187 million buyers on the platform,” which was reported in the company’s Q1 earnings release.

Iannone was also specifically asked, “Does that mean you are getting into the NFT business?” He replied:

We are looking at it and exploring opportunities on how we can enable it on Ebay in an easy way.

Paypal was Ebay’s subsidiary until 2015 when the company spun off the payments giant to its shareholders. Paypal launched its crypto service last year and enabled crypto payments at millions of stores in March. Recently enable Venmo app users to buy, sell, and hold select cryptocurrencies.