Petition to Have Amazon Accept Dogecoin Nets 11,000+ Signatures

If you have been buying or selling on Amazon, then you are probably aware that for a long time, the world’s number one online retailer has maintained a strong stance on the use of cryptocurrencies on its platform. This is, however, likely to change soon after Mark E., an avid user at Change.org started a campaign recently to advocate for the use of Dogecoin on the platform. According to Mark, it is against the will of many people if Jeff Bezos continues to show a ‘stiff neck’ on the usage of Dogecoin on Amazon.

When Mark E. started the campaign a few weeks ago, many people dismissed him. To their surprise, the campaign has been able to gather over 11,000 signatures so far, with most of the petitioners being Amazon users.

11,000 Strong

The Mark-led campaign has spread rapidly and at press time, it had gathered 11,079 petitioners. In an official statement to Amazon’s CEO, Mark said that it is time the e-commerce website accepted the cryptocurrency.

Amazon.com is the leader in innovation. It should also show leadership in accepting Dogecoin. We are not asking this without reason. Dogecoin is not only a fast means of payment but also cheap and stable.

The self-proclaimed ‘leader in innovation’ also added that the digital currency has a huge supply when compared to other digital currencies and that it’s huge and active community means the development of the network is always ongoing.

Those who support the move say that if Amazon accepts Dogecoin as one of its payment methods, it will not only help the unbanked users who trade on the platform but also contribute to Amazon’s profitability as the number of transactions will rise.  The letter indicated that many small startups, established middle-level companies, charity organizations, several enterprises and individual entrepreneurs have already accepted the use of Dogecoin and that it was time for Amazon “to be one of the first major companies to see the power of Dogecoin and to accept it as a payment method.”

The number of signatures collected has already surpassed the projection. When it started, the campaign sought to collect some 2,700 signatures, perhaps led by the knowledge that even the previous petition to have Google Play accept the digital currency only collected 1,463 signatures.

The campaign comes at a time when the price of Dogecoin has witnessed a sharp price fluctuation over the past one week at the back of news that Dogecoin developers had successfully created Dogethereum, a smart contract that would act as a bridge between the Doge and Ethereum networks. The expected excitement at the news pushed the price up by 50 percent in just a few hours on September 1. The market has since then corrected, with the price dropping over 20 percent as the excitement cooled down. Dogecoin, the 22nd largest crypto in the market, is currently trading at $0.0052.

This is not the first time cryptocurrency enthusiasts are pushing for the e-commerce site to accept the use of digital coins. Bitcoin users have more than once tried to push Amazon to accept it as a means of payment.  Efforts to see that happen have, however, not yielded anything. Critics have it that Jeff is hesitant to accept any digital currency payments until the company launches its own native cryptocurrency.

It should be remembered that in November 2017, Amazon purchased three crypto-related domain names that fueled speculation of an impending integration of bitcoin or ether as a payment method. Although it’s almost a year since Amazon purchased them, there hasn’t been any official communication from the company on the matter. Cybersecurity analysts argue that it might have been merely a way to stop criminals from creating domains which carry the name of the e-commerce giant to phish clients.