Richard ReedRumours that Amazon may be poised to accept Bitcoin on its website saw a buying frenzy that sent the digital currency’s price skyrocketing.
The company has registered three new internet domain names related to cryptocurrency, prompting some analysts to suggest it may be about to make the move.
The three domain names it has just registered are amazonethereum.com, amazoncryptocurrency.com and amazoncryptocurrencies.com. It had already registered amazonbitcoin.com. Ethereum is the second biggest digital currency after Bitcoin.
Huge spike
The news saw a huge spike in the Bitcoin price, which hit $7,351 (£5,631) on Thursday after opening at just over $6,500 – a level some analysts thought might be a psychological barrier.
After a short period of extreme volatility the price settled down at just over $7,000.
Some major investors have called the rapidly spiralling Bitcoin price a bubble. Warren Buffett called it a “mirage” back in 2014, while just last week Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal called it an “Enron in the making”, referring to the US energy company that filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
Unregulated
“I just don't believe in this Bitcoin thing," Prince Al-Waleed said in an interview with CNBC. “I think it’s just going to implode one day.”
He added: “This thing does not make sense. It’s unregulated. It’s not under the control of the US Federal Reserve or any other central bank.”
Within the past fortnight, both Indonesia and Vietnam have banned the use of Bitcoin for payments, while China shut down all its cryptocurrency exchanges at the end of September.