Speculation has been rife in the alternative finance industry that Amazon , one of the largest global conglomerates in the world, will soon be taking an interest in Bitcoin, Litecoin, or some other cryptocurrency. However, such speculation seems to fly in the face of how a corporation like Amazon works. So where do such rumours come from? Well, some of it is purely wishful thinking and false predictions. Amazon is known for its innovations in customer service, and its tendency to be in the vanguard of new developments in popular culture. Therefore, the assumption is made that, if there is sufficient demand to start accepting digital currency, then the powers-that-be at Amazon would have no option but to do so. Slightly more concrete ‘evidence’ for Amazon’s interest in digital currency is that they recently bought up a brace of domain names, including amazonbitcoin.com, amazonethereum.com, and amazonripple.com. While this seems to indicate an interest from the group, it’s more likely a pre-emptive purchase to prevent online fraudsters from profiting off the Amazon name.There are two main reasons why Amazon would not risk such a venture: first of all, the idea of decentralisation which is the hallmark of the entire altcoin scene, is anathema to Amazon corporate ethos. From your shopping trends, to your streaming picks, to the private conversations you have with your Alexa modules, there is a ton of data (not to mention money) flying about, and it all heads in one direction – towards Amazon. These guys simply do not want the freedom of movement, money, and information that comes with the blockchain. Secondly, Amazon is faster than the blockchain. With Ethereum offering peak performance of 15 transactions per second (twice the speed of Bitcoin, by the way), it is woefully underpowered for Amazon’s needs. During its last Prime sale, Amazon cleared 40 times that many transactions through its own payment system. Really, at this moment in time, Amazon has nothing to gain by dabbling in cryptocurrencies. It has already cornered the market in… well… pretty much everything. It can afford not to speculate.