Since March 23, bitcoin has increased 159%, from a little over $1,000 to $2,700.
At least 2,100 petitioners on Change.org want Amazon to join companies such as Microsoft and Overstock in accepting bitcoin as a form of payment. They also want the company to accept Litecoin, another cryptocurrency.
The petition cites the following reasons as to why it would be a good idea for Amazon to accept the two cryptocurrencies:
-“Low transaction costs”
-“Decentralized currency”
-“Low Inflation (Because of the finite supply of Bitcoins (this mostly benefits the consumer)”
-“Bitcoin is accessible to any person of any age, sex, demographic, etc. (it is extremely advantageous to citizens of crisis countries)”
-“Non-reversible payments (Extremely beneficial to reputable companies such as Amazon.com)”
-“Bitcoins are extremely secure (Bitcoins reside in an encrypted format on the wallet they are kept in)”
But Amazon might be skeptical about bitcoin, and for good reason. For starters, cryptocurrencies are known for their constant fluctuations in price. Ethereum, another cryptocurrency, flash crashed on Wednesday. It tumbled from about $296 to a low of $13 in a matter of minutes.
Many people think a price correction is on the horizon for bitcoin. Mark Cuban, the billionaire investor, took to twitter on June 6 to say he thought there was a bitcoin “bubble.”
I think it's in a bubble. I just don't know when or how much it corrects. When everyone is bragging about how easy they are making $=bubble June 6, 2017
Additionally, some don’t view bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as viable. Morgan Stanley, for instance, recently said that merchants don’t think cryptocurrencies have a bright future. Here’s Morgan Stanley:
Most regulators and investors view cryptocurrencies more as assets than actual currencies. Their values are too volatile and too hard to actually use for payment for most to consider them currencies. Our conversations with some merchants indicate that, while cryptocurrencies might actually be attractive for them to operate their businesses, they find that the cryptocurrencies are far too volatile to be used.
Other obstacles to bitcoin’s future, according to the bank, include the Chinese crackdown on mining bitcoin and declining trading volumes.
Get the latest Bitcoin price here.
This article was originally published on Business Insider. Copyright 2017.
