Cardano, the fifth largest cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalization, has risen 11,8% in the past 24 hours and is now trading at $ 1,34 at press time.
The coin surpassed its weekly average of $ 1,30 after rumors that Amazon (Amazon shares - ticker AMZN) is planning to accept eight cryptocurrencies for payments including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano and Bitcoin Cash.
According to a CityAm report, a source familiar with the matter said the directive comes from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the platform will begin accepting Bitcoin for payments by the end of 2021.
"It starts with Bitcoin: this is the first key phase of this cryptographic project and the directive comes from above."
Cardano on Amazon
The fifth largest cryptocurrency market cap in the world will get the boost of a lifetime when Amazon begins accepting ADA payments. The development would also provide the largest use case for the Cardano network to date, in North America.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson identifies the ecosystem as the third generation blockchain technology that was developed to deliver on all the failed promises of Ethereum 1.0.
The network successfully launched its smart contract update dubbed Alonzo on July 21 which paves the way for smart contract integrations into its ecosystem. Contrary to other competing ecosystems in space, Cardano took some time to define its roadmap.
Since the launch of its Shelley Mainnet in July 2020, its developers have delivered successful sequential hard forks, each of which has brought the network closer to its vision of being the decentralized network of the future.
The official launch of the Alonzo testnet on the Mainnet is scheduled for September 2020. It will usher in the new era of smart contracts, enable the development of decentralized applications and finally be on a level playing field for comparison with Ethereum 2.0.
Amazon Native Token Plans
The news follows shortly after Amazon recently announced a headhunt for a crypto and blockchain head, sending the crypto community into wild excitement. The announcement said the company was looking for an experienced product leader to develop its digital currency and blockchain strategy and product path.
According to the insider, Amazon's two moves are part of a well-structured plan that began in 2019.
"It's not just about setting up cryptocurrency payment solutions at some point in the future, but it's an integral, well-discussed and comprehensive part of the future mechanics of how Amazon will work."
Amazon will then use the cryptocurrency payment infrastructure as the basis for developing its own digital currency. "When all of these cryptocurrencies are aligned, there is another twist to push things even more in Amazon's favor: a native token."
