Most Amazon customers would “be open to the idea of using an Amazon-created cryptocurrency” and many would welcome banking services, according to a recent poll conducted by LendEDU.
The survey included 17 questions on how consumers would feel about using Amazon products beyond online retail for services such as banking, getting a mortgage, life insurance, or investment advisement – Amazon doesn’t currently offer personal banking, mortgage or insurance services.
LendEDU polled 1,000 consumers who had bought something from Amazon in the past 30 days.
Most consumers would welcome an Amazon-created crypto-currency
One of the questions asked consumers how they would feel about using an Amazon cryptocurrency. Over half (51.70%) of respondents said that if offered, they you be open to the idea of using an Amazon-created crypto-currency (ex. Amazon Coin) for future purchases on Amazon.com. Under a quarter (21.90%) said they wouldn’t use an Amazon cryptocurrency while 26.40% were “unsure”.
Many customers would trust Amazon handling their finances
When asked about using Amazon for their banking needs, 44.5% of respondents said they would be open to the idea of using an account created by Amazon as their primary bank account, while 16.40% said no and 39.10% were unsure.
In terms of trusting Amazon with their finances, 38.3% of respondents said they would have “about the same level of trust” in the company handling their finances instead of a traditional bank. Over a quarter (17.2%) said they would trust Amazon more, while 23.50% said they would have “less trust” in the tech giant over a traditional bank.
Source: LendEDU – “Should Amazon Get Into Virtual Currency? Banking? Insurance? | LendEDU Survey”
About cryptocurrencies
Digital currency
A cryptocurrency is a kind of digital currency, i.e., a currency that exists only electronically. It circulates with no need for any central authority such as a central bank.
Cryptocurrency creators designed them to be ultra secure. Most of them are anonymous too. Anonymous means that you can use them without revealing your identity.
Distributed ledger technology
Cryptocurrencies use a distributed ledger system. In other words, there is no central ledger. All the data regarding transactions is distributed across the whole system. In the case of cryptocurrencies, the system consists of blocks.
Blocks are records, which link to each other and form ever-expanding blockchains.
Imaging a ledger book. A block is like a page of that book while the blockchain is like the whole book.
It is virtually impossible to carry out a cyber attack on a blockchain system. To carry out a successful attack, you must hit every single block at the same time.