You can now use bitcoin to pay on Amazon – the growth ahead?
April 29, 2019 @ 13:03 +03:00
You can now spend your bitcoin on giant Amazon, thanks to an ingenious lightning network solution, Moon. Moon is a crypto payment-processing start-up that works by allowing lightning network-enabled wallets to be used through Moon’s browser extension.
The extension allows shoppers to connect their cryptocurrency wallet to it, for example, a Coinbase wallet, and use it at checkout, to pay for goods with bitcoin, or one of three other currencies, litecoin, ethereum or bitcoin cash. Let’s be clear it’s not a native Amazon payment option … yet.
In an interview with CCN.com CEO Ken Kruger explained how Moon worked: Simply: After installing the Moon browser extension you shop on Amazon.com as you normally would. At checkout, Moon gives you the option to pay with your crypto. When you submit payment, your purchase is completed instantly and seamlessly on Amazon … We’ll be expanding to other wallet integrations and currencies.
The transactions are handled by exchanges and financial institutions who convert the bitcoin into fiat and then pay Amazon sellers in traditional fiat currencies. The transactions don’t cost the buyer anything. Moon is integrating with Visa and Mastercard and makes its money by getting a small cut of the interchange fees every time sellers receive a credit card transaction.
Moon has already been tested by a small group of beta users, who used it to spend bitcoin on Amazon and other e-commerce sites, and the browser extension is available on the Chrome store right now, making it available to 60% of internet users globally. It is also available on Brave and Opera browsers. So far, the extension supports shopping on Amazon.com only with United States dollars, but the team is looking to expand wider.