Amazon ‘ready to react’ and launch own crypto as Dogecoin crashes after Elon Musk's plug

The Tesla CEO, who calls himself the ‘Dogefather,’ is a huge fan of Dogecoin and regularly tweets about it – which usually causes a surge in its value. The price of Dogecoin was at around $0.70 (£0.50) before Mr Musk started hosting the show, but after he mentioned the coin, it dropped by as much as 24 percent to $0.49 (£0.35) – and it remains around the same price today. It came after Mr Musk warned his followers about investing in cryptocurrency, amid a surge in interest in digital currency.

And Professor Carol Alexander, from the University of Sussex Business School, told Express.co.uk that we could soon see big companies launching their own coins.

She said: “Facebook started off with Libra, it was going to have its own digital currency to be used for buying and selling things through Facebook.

“It would make it into the new Amazon and I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon then gets involved in digital currencies once Diem gets off to a start.”

Diem, as it is now known, is rumoured to be launching later this year, but will be quite different from what was originally proposed.

Major launch partners pulled support in quick succession last year because of its controversial nature and the regulatory hurdles it faced due to concerns from lawmakers.

Stuart Levey, Diem Association CEO, said in December: “The Diem project will provide a simple platform for FinTech innovation to thrive and enable consumers and businesses to conduct instantaneous, low-cost, highly secure transactions.”

Facebook initially pitched Libra as a mainstream cryptocurrency to make digitally transferring money quicker and easier than it is today, and companies like Facebook would be able to offer financial services around it by adding a digital wallet, called Calibra.

But Prof Alexander explained why it was forced to change, and how its launch could see Amazon fall in line.

She said: “US regulators came after Libra very hard, saying it was a security threat, Libra was slammed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

READ MORE: ‘Get out’ Dogecoin set for ‘bumpy' ride after Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance

The adverts indicated that the company is in the process of developing a system that lets customers “convert their cash into digital currency”.

The post said: “We are building a tech team to build innovative payment products for customers in emerging markets.”

The adverts were later removed, as reported by Tech Radar at the time and secrecy has surrounded the plans since.

It would not be the company’s only digital coin project as the tech giant has already started working on Amazon Coins – designed to offer users discounts on purchases on Kindles and Fire tablets.

It is not clear if the two projects are linked.

Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has previously warned against investing in crypto.

It stated: “If consumers invest, they should be prepared to lose all their money.

"Some investments advertising high returns from crypto assets may not be subject to regulation beyond anti-money laundering.

“Significant price volatility, combined with the difficulties valuing [Bitcoin] reliably, place consumers at a high risk of losses.”

Express.co.uk does not give financial advice. The journalists who worked on this article do not own cryptocurrency.

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