Amazon shareholders loudly push for the online shopping giant to make a brave step into the cryptocurrency space with a proposed investment plan of $29 billion to buy Bitcoin. It can be deduced that there is success and tremendous public concern with business intelligence firm MicroStrategy which has gone ahead in buying millions of Bitcoin recently. This recommendation triggered heated debates in the investment community by people who view it as holding many potential benefits and others against its volatility with cryptocurrencies.
MicroStrategy, led by CEO Michael Saylor, became one of the most vocal corporate Bitcoin enthusiasts, investing billions of dollars into the cryptocurrency. The company held more than 100,000 Bitcoins as of late 2021, making it the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world. The firm’s strategy on Bitcoin has been very much in the news and has inspired many other companies to consider similar moves.
Now, shareholders are compelling Amazon to follow this move. A massive Bitcoin investment, according to these shareholders, would be great for the balance sheet and offer long-term growth opportunities for Amazon. This is why a proposed $29 billion investment into Bitcoin has been touted as an avenue for diversifying Amazon’s asset holdings and setting the company in the front seat of the digital currency revolution. Advocates for the decision believe that Bitcoin, dubbed “digital gold,” would enable Amazon to seize the opportunity created by the growing demand for decentralized finance solutions and alternative store-of-value assets.
The other advantage of the Bitcoin investment, proponents argue, is the rising mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies as evidenced by companies like Tesla and Square that already have a plan to integrate Bitcoin into their financial strategies. Tesla made headlines when it announced it had bought a total of $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and would also start accepting it as payment for its vehicles in 2021. Other advocates of this cryptocurrency include Square, led by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, which has added the cryptocurrency to its corporate treasury while integrating Bitcoin payments in its Cash App platform.
Despite the recent surge in enthusiasm for Bitcoin, Amazon has yet to publicly commit any investment in such ventures. Traditional risk-averse Amazon has always avoided investments in a cryptocurrency rather than focused its efforts on growing its core businesses: e-commerce and cloud computing. While Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos has stated interest in the blockchain, the organization hasn’t placed much stake in its significant technological network toward innovation projects such as the development of AWS and Amazon delivery networks.
However, speculation of the $29 billion investment into Bitcoin began trickling in with a sub-fraction of Amazon’s investor group. They argue that such an action would not only place the company at the forefront of the cryptocurrency wave but also be a hedge against inflation trends as governments around the world continue to print money for economic issues. Bitcoin and other such cryptocurrencies, despite their decentralization and reduced supply, are considered safer at times of economic uncertainty by some people.
Even though the company has not yet approved the idea, the discussion of corporate Bitcoin investments is growing. The more companies are opening their eyes to digital currencies, the more Amazon will face pressure to follow suit.
