Other big brands have had very mixed success when launching their own NFT features — Coinbase, Facebook and Instagram among them.
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Amazon is gearing up to launch its very own NFT platform, according to reports.
The Big Whale says that the marketplace will initially be available to customers in the U.S. — and a rollout to Europe could follow later.
But there have been setbacks along the way, and it's believed that the launch date has been repeatedly pushed back because of the shockwaves linked to FTX's collapse.
If the reports are accurate, we could see Amazon's marketplace make its long-awaited debut on April 24.
Blockworks claims that the NFTs on offer through the e-commerce behemoth would be tied to real world assets.
And it seems like Amazon really wants to make a big splash when the platform launches, as an email promoting the marketplace could be sent to every single Prime customer.
It's estimated that Amazon had 168 million Prime members in the U.S. as of the end of 2022, meaning you could argue that this would be a huge leap for awareness surrounding NFTs.
One example put forward by Blockworks would see NFTs linked to a pair of jeans, and available to buy with a credit card.
While all of this sounds exciting, it's worth noting that other big brands have had very mixed success when launching their own NFT functionality.
The use of NFTs across Facebook and Instagram has been fairly limited despite Meta rolling out this feature to over 100 countries.
And Coinbase NFT suffered a really tepid launch, despite entering into a partnership with Mastercard so crypto collectibles could easily be purchased using fiat. Disappointing trading volumes at launch did little to worry OpenSea, the world's biggest marketplace at the time.
It turns out that OpenSea's biggest threat was much closer to home. The platform has now been leapfrogged by Blur after a war over commission fees broke out — triggering a race to the bottom. Controversially, the royalties that creators now receive whenever digital art is resold has now been made optional — starving them of ongoing revenue.
There's one more elephant in the room that we're yet to discuss: whether Amazon shoppers would actually be interested by the prospect of having NFTs linked to their jeans.
