E-commerce giant, Amazon, buys three Cryptocurrency-related domains

There has been much speculation recently regarding Amazon's entrance into the Cryptocurrency world. Just last month, an unfounded rumor about the e-commerce giant accepting Bitcoin as a payment method resulted in an immediate rise in the digital currency’s price.

Three new domains having cryptocurrency-related names were secured this Tuesday by Amazon’s legal department, as reported by the Trade Publication DomainNameWire. The domains registered to Amazon are amazonethereum.com, amazoncryptocurrencies.com and amazoncryptocurrency.com. The news sparked rumors that the company might actually be considering accepting cryptocurrencies as payment.

These, however, seem to be nothing more than rumors as the company has indicated no signs whatsoever as to whether they will accept Bitcoins, or any other cryptocurrency, as payments. This was made clear just last month by Amazon Pay’s Patrick Gauthier. He told CNBC that Amazon has no plans at all to accept cryptocurrencies. The company has not received much demand for payments to be made with cryptocurrencies. The reason for securing these domains may just be that the company wants to protect its brand name.

Experts believe that this is, indeed, just a move towards securing the company’s trademark as it is not uncommon for companies to snatch up sites using their name in order to keep others from using them. Just after the disclosure of this news on Wednesday, the domain “amazonripple.com” was registered to a ‘Byron Wiebe’. The web address forwards to the website for Ripple Cryptocurrency. Considering such registrations by people having no link to the actual company whose brand name is being used, Amazon’s recent action seems quite rational.

Whatever the case may be, it appears as though Amazon is intent on owning multiple domain names related to Cryptocurrency. It cannot be said for sure if the company, as it claims, really has no plans of accepting Cryptocurrency payments. In 2013, it registered for the domain “amazonbitcoin.com” as well, according to CoinDesk. The web address takes users to Amazon’s official website.

Bitcoin, the largest Cryptocurrency by market cap, also hit a new record high of $6,600 the same day this news was disclosed. The reason for this rise was the US-based Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)’s announcement on Tuesday for the launch of Bitcoin futures later this year. This is not the first time for a favorable regulation to have boost up Bitcoin’s price.