Apple, Amazon or Google: Which Big Tech Firm Will Embrace Bitcoin Next?

Corporate Adoption

We know from past spikes in the price of bitcoin that institutional adoption adds huge gains to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. After Elon Musk’s Twitter circus this year caused bitcoin to climb and crash, what can we expect from other big corporations in relation to bitcoin?

Currently, Google, Apple, and Amazon do not accept bitcoin as payment for their services. There are many reasons for this, but investor confidence and a lack of regulation in the field of cryptocurrency have been cited as one of the many. This has been a historic trend in attempting to get large scale institutions to adopt bitcoin.

Elon Musk’s frantic tweeting didn’t do this any favors, as it really showed potential investors that whales with a platform can deeply affect the price of bitcoin. Not exactly something that Musk’s competition might want to get involved with if he has that much sway over the pricing. However, even in spite of this, these big corporations seem to be easing into the crypto space.

Testing the Waters

While these big corporations haven’t accepted bitcoin as payment, they have been flirting with the concept of cryptocurrencies on their own terms. Amazon recently opened a job position seeking a cryptocurrency expert and developer. Their ad includes details like having knowledge of blockchains in general and with government tokens. Amazon announced earlier this year that they are aiming to accept bitcoin as payment by the end of 2021.

Despite a recent false rumor that Apple had bought 2.5 billion USD in bitcoin, Apple has expressed similar interest to Amazon in hiring an expert blockchain developer. It could be perhaps that Apple at the very least is waiting for the United States to develop its own fedcoin, accompanied by a stronger regulatory framework that would provide guidance and direction for PR conscious corporations that wish to avoid trouble. Given the controversy with stablecoins, specifically Tether, it stands to reason that these big corporations would like to steer clear of big lawsuits, and those involved in them.

Amazon is ahead of the curve in the acceptance department but Apple is still only trifling with the idea of cryptocurrency. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has referred to bitcoin as a “mathematical miracle”, which is quite the endorsement. It seems inevitable that these big corporations will accept cryptocurrency. There’s a huge market for it, given that 8.3% of Americans hold cryptocurrency. The only questions that remain are, how and when do we get there?

The Slow March to Acceptance

Google recently announced that they will allow advertisement of cryptocurrencies, with some strings attached. The interesting bit about this announcement is the prohibition of ICO advertisements and DeFi trading protocols. Google seems to be playing their stance on crypto quite conservative. In addition to this, Google will only allow advertisements from institutions that are fully compliant with US regulatory bodies, such as FCEN and state-level banking regulators.

Prior to this announcement, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced last year that they would permit the use of Google Pay as a payment method for individuals to acquire cryptocurrency with. Coinbase was quick to adopt this and was even part of their rollout for their visa debit card. It’s important to note that Google Pay is not a bitcoin wallet. For now, it’s still a one way transaction. You can use Google Pay to acquire bitcoin and put it in a wallet of your choosing. At this time, neither Google or Alphabet hold any bitcoin or other cryptocurrency.

Even without holding bitcoin reserves though, Google and Alphabet’s interest and support for bitcoin and cryptocurrency is a good sign for the future. Like Apple, it seems likely that they are holding out for the launch of an American fedcoin and awaiting a stronger, more concrete legal framework for the regulation of the highly volatile cryptocurrency market. There is still speculation about which currencies Apple and Google may accept. As stated previously, Amazon is already planning to accept bitcoin by the end of 2021, in addition to Ethereum and Cardano. If Apple and Google are concerned by the historic volatility of bitcoin, they might sooner turn to more conservative investments.

The Race for Adoption

So to answer the question, which big corporation will be the next to invest in bitcoin? The answer is Amazon, who are planning to accept bitcoin transactions by the end of 2021. The real race for adoption lies between Apple and Google. Based on current information, Google seems the most likely to pick it up, since they’ve already begun enabling adjacent transactions with their support for the Coinbase visa debit card. Apple might be lagging behind in the race to adopt bitcoin.

These big corporations might be holding out for more guidance from legal bodies and the launch of a US based fedcoin before taking the plunge, even if they could be making money from adoption. It may be worth observing Amazon’s experience with adoption as well, to see if they face pushback or legal trouble in the face of brazen early adoption. It could be that Google and Apple are following the lead of Amazon.