Amazon plans to unveil an NFT marketplace to compete against OpenSea

Amazon is focused on expanding its operations in the digital asset sector. The e-commerce giant is exploring blockchain-based gaming and non-fungible token (NFT) applications. The initiative will enable Amazon customers to play crypto-related games and claim free NFTs.

Amazon explores the digital asset sector

Sources close to the company have said that Amazon will reveal its digital asset plans to the public during the second quarter of this year. The company’s move into the crypto industry is expected to have a significant impact and impact the existing players in the market.

The push for the digital assets sector by Amazon executives has led to the ecommerce firm reaching out to other institutions, including a family office, to help it realize its goals. One of the proposed plans includes at least one NFT drop.

Amazon has yet to develop a team to spearhead its NFT plans. Moreover, there are limited details about the company’s proposed NFT plans, including gaming. Moreover, the company has not clarified whether its NFT program will run on the popular web-hosting platform Amazon Web Services.

There are also reports that Amazon is exploring other Web3 initiatives. However, to realize its goals for the industry, the company will have to make internal hires that will attract crypto and blockchain talent to the firm.

Amazon has previously posted job opportunities for Web3 engineers for AWS. In 2013, Amazon introduced the Amazon Coins program, and while this program has continued to exist, it has not integrated crypto offerings. Amazon Coins is a loyalty program and not a crypto initiative.

The CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy, has in the past said that he supported the company’s plans to sell NFTs. Jassy has also noted that the company was open about the general cryptocurrency sector.

If Amazon unveils an NFT marketplace, it will compete against giants in the space, such as Rarible and OpenSea. However, given Amazon’s global presence and customer base, its NFT marketplace would be competitive.

AWS partners with Ava Labs

AWS recently secured a strategic partnership with Ava Labs, the developer of the Avalanche blockchain. The partnership will support the launch of new features that will make it easier for AWS users to run a node.

The CEO of Ava Labs, Emin Gun Sirer, said that AWS was a key piece of the Avalanche blockchain for a long time. Sirer noted that he expected the partnership to make AWS more useful to decentralized application (DApp) developers on the Avalanche blockchain.

Amazon is not the only ecommerce giant exploring the digital asset sector. In December, Ava Labs also secured a partnership deal with Alibaba Cloud.