eBay, a leading online store, is rumored to begin accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment in the future.

The rumor began circulating following the blockchain summit Consensus 2019 and was spread by a Telegram post from “Patrons of The Moon”. The Consensus event in Manhattan had adverts from eBay that alluded to a crypto future.

The various placards said, “virtual currency. It’s happening on eBay.” And “Reach 179 million active buyers in the world’s largest marketplace.”

eBay, as of yet, has not announced anything on any of their accounts so nothing is concrete. However, it seems the move to crypto is imminent and something the giant online store has been mulling over for a while. This was evidenced by their sponsorship of the Consensus event.

Binance to be eBay’s token

Following the news many have begun speculating as to which token will be the first to be supported. The online shopping giants are going to accept Binance coin, BNB, as their main token according to a tweet from a twitter user, Crypto Enthusiast.

https://twitter.com/ImNotTheWolf/status/1127696721230934019/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1127697214208335872&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fu.today%2Fbinances-cz-announces-date-for-resuming-operations-after-hacker-attack-bnb-spikes-nearly-10-percent

Binance token is not just for gaining discounted trading fees, it has also proven itself to be a capable token with regards to ecommerce. The partnership with Pundi X and TravelbyBit are evidence.

Changpeng Zhao, the Binance CEO, has also had his eyes on the ecommerce market as shown by his comments about Amazon. In a tweet, he spoke of the benefits a crypto payment could have for ecommerce websites.

It read:

“For any internet (non-physical) based business, I don’t understand why anyone would not accept crypto for payments. It is easier, faster and cheaper to integration than traditional payment gateways. Less paperwork. And reaches more diverse demographic and geography.”

These comments will also add further to the rumor of Binance and Ebay collaboration, something which a twitter user rightly pointed out:

PayPal’s contract with eBay

There may be some obstacles in the way though for eBay and crypto payments. The main one being PayPal which is contracted by eBay until 2023 and does not yet accept crypto as a method of payment.

PayPal’s CFO, John Rainey, is not convinced by the merits of crypto for payment and has been vocal in his objection.

In an interview with CNBC last year, he said:

“Right now, we don’t see a lot of interest from our merchants. But if it’s something that stabilizes in the future and is a better currency, then we’ll certainly support that.” On explaining the problem with volatility for sellers, he said: “If you’re a merchant and you have, let’s say, a 10 percent margin on a product that you sell and you accept bitcoin, for example, and the very next day it moves 15 percent, you’re now underwater on that transaction.”

However, PayPal and eBay’s partnership may not last past the 2023 mark as they have split from one another and it seems that eBay will use Adyen in the future for payment.

Whatever the case may be, this is yet another huge step for the crypto community and the industry as a whole. From Samsung to eBay, the business giants of this world are all catching on to cryptocurrencies which will serve to make it a financial force for the future and a direct competitor to fiat currencies.