Amazon denies Bitcoin payment rumors; BTC price dumps 10%

• Amazon denied speculations regarding accepting Bitcoin payments by year-end
• The e-commerce giant is exploring possibilities of letting customers pay with crypto
• BTC/USD spot rate fell 10%

JAIPUR (Coinchapter.com) – Bitcoin’s explosive rally to $40,000 was cut short after Amazon officials came out against reports citing the e-commerce giant’s supposed plan to accept BTC payments by year-end. The company also negated speculations about launching its native digital asset next year.

“Notwithstanding our interest in the space, the speculation that has ensued around our specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true,”

an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg, adding:

“We remain focused on exploring what this could look like for customers shopping on Amazon.”

However, the Seattle headquartered firm did post a job opening to hire a “Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead.” The posting fuelled the speculation and a 16% jump in Bitcoin prices.

Related: Bitcoin blasts towards $40K on Amazon adoption row

But, Vijay Ayyar, head of Asia Pacific at crypto exchange Luno in Singapore, sees the rally differently. He said that over-leveraged shorts drove the prices higher after traders switched biases from bearish to bullish over the Amazon rumor.

The rally failed to sustain, with the BTC/USD exchange rate dropping 10% from $40,600 to $36,385. It currently trades above $37,000 at the time of writing.

Interest In Cryptocurrencies Still Strong

While Amazon denied plans to accept Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments on its online storefront, it acknowledges the rising interest in digital assets. And how they are rapidly picking up pace amongst millennial and Gen-Z shoppers.

“We’re inspired by the innovation happening in the cryptocurrency space and are exploring what this could look like on Amazon. We believe the future will be built on new technologies that enable modern, fast, and inexpensive payments, and hope to bring that future to Amazon customers as soon as possible,”

the company said in a statement 

Amazon’s web technology arm, Amazon Web Services, reportedly sells products to augment blockchain infrastructure development.

Bitcoin Technical Setup

Bitcoin is back in the green after buyers reversed losses logged during the opening London bell. The BTC/USD exchange rate remains well supported above the 20-day exponential moving average (20-day EMA), 50-day, and 200-day moving average (MA) waves.

RSI (Relative Strength Indicator) posted an uptick after a brief decline in response to the selloff.

Related: Bitcoin week ahead Ep13: A rosy start to an uncertain 7-day period ahead

However, Bitcoin price movements might remain subjected to bond-purchase tapering talks in the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The policy meetings will see top Federal Reserve officials convene for the first time after June’s hawkish announcements.

Many bad narratives floating around trying to explain bicoin's price action. Fact is for bitcoin idiosyncratic drivers have dominated flows since April, and since $BTC has only responded to the macro on rare ocassions such as the last FOMC and yesterday's CPI.

— Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) July 14, 2021

The common consensus is that the Fed will proceed with tapering its monthly asset purchases earlier than previously thought. 50% of economists predict the central bank to begin monetary policy tightening in Q1 2022. Bitcoin stands to re-enter bearish moors if the said scenario plays out.

However, Fed boss Jay Powell has assured that the monthly $120 billion bond purchase will continue until the US labor market undergoes “substantial progress” and inflation numbers improve.

Therefore, traders would need to carefully assess Fed’s “tapering moves” before opening significantly long Bitcoin positions. The BTC/USD exchange rate would still need to close above $40,680 for a solid uptrend confirmation from a technical perspective.