eBay to add crypto payment options soon, says CEO

The e-commerce giant aims to become the marketplace for Millennials and Gen Z, and given their rising interests in crypto, add new payment options to lure in the customer base.

Major e-commerce marketplace eBay could integrate crypto payments soon, said CEO Jamie Iannone in a recent interview.

The internet marketplace is among the oldest e-commerce platforms, now looking to become the go-to platform for Gen Z and Millennials. The CEO said in an interview with The Street that the firm is looking to integrate crypto payment options for quite some time and an official announcement could be made during the upcoming investor’s day on March 10.

During his interview, Iannone revealed that the e-commerce giant is looking to transition to new payments modes as they are already managing $85 billion of volume on its platform directly.

Talking about eBay’s stance on emerging technology such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies, Iannone pointed toward the growing popularity of nonfungible tokens trading on its platform without making any official announcement regarding the same.

Iannone said that the company changed its policies last year to make the e-commerce platform a place to buy and sell anything be it a physical or digital commodity. eBay didn’t respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comments at publishing time.

The rise in popularity and demand for cryptocurrencies has made several online platforms add crypto payments options. eBay, with its focus on capturing Millennial and Gen Z customers, aims to do the same. However, it won’t be the company’s first attempt at crypto payments — eBay first tried integrating BTC payments in 2014.

As Cointelegraph reported in May 2021, eBay was exploring Bitcoin payment integration last year as well along with NFT trading. The crypto payment integration plan now seems to be near finalized as crypto has become mainstream and more acceptable among the masses.