Amazon is taking its first step into the cryptocurrency industry.

And the e-commerce giant is targeting non-fungible tokens (NFTs), not cryptocurrencies.

That’s according to a Blockworks report published on Thursday (January 26) revealing the online retailer’s plans to launch an NFT initiative next spring.

The crypto industry publication’s report cites several sources familiar with Amazon’s plans, who claim that Amazon has been exploring launching a digital asset company on its core platform, and not through Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Amazon, the world’s largest retailer, has thus far kept the crypto industry at arm’s length while investing, and finding success, in other next-generation digital commerce activations, including live selling.

Amazon’s entry into the Web3 landscape can provide a boon to the credibility and vitality of an industry currently at an inflection point.

As previously reported by PYMNTS, the volume of “minted” NFTs has plummeted by 60%, and the volume of active buyers and sellers is a third of the levels seen in early 2022.

Elsewhere, sports retailer Fanatics has lost its taste for NFTs and is dumping its majority stake in Candy Digital at a presumed loss.

However, despite the headwinds in the NFT industry, Amazon is not the only traditional institutional player to dive into the NFT marketplace ecosystem.

Fidelity Investments recently filed trademark applications for its own NFT marketplace.

Reached for comment, a Fidelity Investments spokesperson told PYMNTS in an email that while it is premature to discuss the newly filed trademark applications, they reinforce the company’s legacy of innovation.

Amazon’s Web3 ambitions reportedly include blockchain-based gaming and NFT collectibles. While the effort is still in development, sources contacted by Blockworks have indicated that an April release appears to have been “targeted.”

It’s not yet clear if Amazon plans to launch a marketplace, though any move in that direction by the Seattle-based giant would send shockwaves through industry headlines like OpenSea or Rarible given the titan’s size, scale, and scope. of electronic commerce.

Interestingly, Andy Jassy, ​​the Amazon CEO who took over from founder Jeff Bezos, is no stranger to the collectibles industry. According to the CTO’s bio, he worked for five years after graduating from Harvard University as a project manager for collectibles company MBI.

No further information has yet been revealed about any potential hires Amazon has made to support the effort, or the creation of new internal teams to spearhead the NFT gaming and blockchain initiatives.

The full scope of Amazon’s Web3 ambitions is similarly shrouded in mystery.

in a CNBC Squawkbox Interview During April of last year, Jassy publicly stated that he saw NFTs in the future of Amazon.

“I expect NFTs to continue to grow very significantly. We’re probably not close to adding cryptocurrency as a payment mechanism in our retail business, but I think over time you’ll see cryptocurrency get bigger and it’s possible… it’s possible in the future,” he said at the time.

That time seems to be now, or at least this spring.

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