5 ms·

you know you can do much more with blockchain tech than just payments? My hunch is that they could be building an NFT marketplace. It makes sense.

mtalantikite 5y ago
If they're getting into NFT it's to sell shovels to the speculators.
- bouncycastle 5y ago
  If you think about it, then this fits Amazons's existing business exactly: To provide a marketplace for people who buy things at cost prices and then sell them for a higher price.
  - davidcbc 5y ago
    If they really want to lean into the reputation they are getting for being a platform for counterfeits and scams then NFTs are the next logical step
    - bouncycastle 5y ago
      counterfeits on Amazon? Are you kidding me? sarcastic smile Seriously though, it's easy to verify if a NFT is genuine - one of the features of Blockchain tech.
      - jazzyjackson 5y ago
        I don’t know what you mean by genuine, non-counterfeit? You can check that a token exists on chain, but that tells you nothing about whether the person who issued the token owns the copyright to the work. Ie, no guarantees of authenticity.
SahAssar 5y ago
Does it really make sense? NFTs have not been proven to be anything except hype (really well selling hype for a while, but nothing but hype nonetheless).
- smegger001 5y ago
  NFT's are baseball cards that go away the second the servers storing the actual data go away. sure you have record that you own the token that confers no actual ownership (physical, copyright, or trademark.) setting on the underlying blockchain assuming that blockchain continues to operate but the data itself is still as ephemeral as the server hosting it.
geofft 5y ago
NFTs don't exist, though.
- bouncycastle 5y ago
  That's like saying "ownership of intangible goods doesn't exist".
  - geofft 5y ago
    Yes.
cwkoss 5y ago
If e-book and amazon video/music licenses were portable, resellable AND platform agnostic (can use my license and exercise it with a different content host to certify I am allowed to download that content), I would buy a bunch of them. I currently have no reason to want to own an NFT, and never "buy" content from amazon because it is locked to my account and has no real permanence. This would certainly be a killer app for NFTs, but I doubt Amazon is willing to cede enough control to actually do this.
- paxys 5y ago
  While that would be amazing to have, the problem isn't lack of technology (or more specifically blockchain technology). Amazon could very easily set up a marketplace to facilitate transfer of ebooks, movies and more to other accounts. They could also issue "tokens" for redemption on other platforms. All this is possible with good old fashioned CRUD.
  - cwkoss 5y ago
    Hmm, I would value these more if they weren't managed within an amazon-controlled database, but you're right that they could offer a lot of the value of this with a centralized solution if they wanted to.
- acdha 5y ago
  Less Amazon than the content owners: NFTs give them no additional revenue, still have the same hosting costs, and dramatically increase the odds of a compromise leaking their material permanently.
  - cwkoss 5y ago
    > NFTs give them no additional revenue Portable digital assets could be priced higher and would have more demand. > still have the same hosting costs Do content owners have to pay amazon hosting costs? I thought that was included in their platform fee. > dramatically increase the odds of a compromise leaking their material permanently The odds of leak are 100% already, so this isn't true.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bouncycastle 5y ago
Just replying to myself. I find it amusing to be downvoted so much, yet sparking so much discussion. It seems like NFTs evoke strong reactions from both pro and anti camps. Obviously they are an extremely disruptive tech, especially in the way we view ownership and also they derail the whole "cryptocurrencies are not useful for anything" argument. So they disrupt not only those against cryptocurrency, but also those who are entrenched in cryptocurrency that does not have the ability to support NFTs

mtalantikite 5y ago

If they're getting into NFT it's to sell shovels to the speculators.

bouncycastle 5y ago
If you think about it, then this fits Amazons's existing business exactly: To provide a marketplace for people who buy things at cost prices and then sell them for a higher price.
- davidcbc 5y ago
  If they really want to lean into the reputation they are getting for being a platform for counterfeits and scams then NFTs are the next logical step
  - bouncycastle 5y ago
    counterfeits on Amazon? Are you kidding me? sarcastic smile Seriously though, it's easy to verify if a NFT is genuine - one of the features of Blockchain tech.
    - jazzyjackson 5y ago
      I don’t know what you mean by genuine, non-counterfeit? You can check that a token exists on chain, but that tells you nothing about whether the person who issued the token owns the copyright to the work. Ie, no guarantees of authenticity.

SahAssar 5y ago

Does it really make sense? NFTs have not been proven to be anything except hype (really well selling hype for a while, but nothing but hype nonetheless).

smegger001 5y ago
NFT's are baseball cards that go away the second the servers storing the actual data go away. sure you have record that you own the token that confers no actual ownership (physical, copyright, or trademark.) setting on the underlying blockchain assuming that blockchain continues to operate but the data itself is still as ephemeral as the server hosting it.

geofft 5y ago

NFTs don't exist, though.

bouncycastle 5y ago
That's like saying "ownership of intangible goods doesn't exist".
- geofft 5y ago
  Yes.

cwkoss 5y ago

If e-book and amazon video/music licenses were portable, resellable AND platform agnostic (can use my license and exercise it with a different content host to certify I am allowed to download that content), I would buy a bunch of them. I currently have no reason to want to own an NFT, and never "buy" content from amazon because it is locked to my account and has no real permanence. This would certainly be a killer app for NFTs, but I doubt Amazon is willing to cede enough control to actually do this.

paxys 5y ago
While that would be amazing to have, the problem isn't lack of technology (or more specifically blockchain technology). Amazon could very easily set up a marketplace to facilitate transfer of ebooks, movies and more to other accounts. They could also issue "tokens" for redemption on other platforms. All this is possible with good old fashioned CRUD.
- cwkoss 5y ago
  Hmm, I would value these more if they weren't managed within an amazon-controlled database, but you're right that they could offer a lot of the value of this with a centralized solution if they wanted to.
acdha 5y ago
Less Amazon than the content owners: NFTs give them no additional revenue, still have the same hosting costs, and dramatically increase the odds of a compromise leaking their material permanently.
- cwkoss 5y ago
  > NFTs give them no additional revenue Portable digital assets could be priced higher and would have more demand. > still have the same hosting costs Do content owners have to pay amazon hosting costs? I thought that was included in their platform fee. > dramatically increase the odds of a compromise leaking their material permanently The odds of leak are 100% already, so this isn't true.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

bouncycastle 5y ago

Just replying to myself. I find it amusing to be downvoted so much, yet sparking so much discussion. It seems like NFTs evoke strong reactions from both pro and anti camps. Obviously they are an extremely disruptive tech, especially in the way we view ownership and also they derail the whole "cryptocurrencies are not useful for anything" argument. So they disrupt not only those against cryptocurrency, but also those who are entrenched in cryptocurrency that does not have the ability to support NFTs