Amazon recently launched its own virtual currency, Coins. Although the scope for this currency is yet unknown, and it may very well become a major virtual currency, it is already gaining ground despite mixed reviews. Each coin of the ‘Coin’ currency is worth $0.01 and can be used to buy apps, books, and other products from Amazon’s online as well as retail stores. For the moment, the market to which the virtual currency has been released remains limited to the US, but it is expected to go further out in the near future.
Amazon even distributed 500 coins to Kindle Fire users as a first-time gift to get users to start using the currency. This translated to a large amount of money for the company since $5 to all the Kindle users across the US got a gift of 500 coins, allowing them to try out the new virtual currency without paying for it. This was one of the major factors in getting the currency to such high popularity in such a short time. Another feature of the currency was the increased versatility of it, allowing users to buy many products from many of Amazon’s platforms, giving users the convenience of being able to switch between platforms without switching between currencies.
Another extremely important feature of this virtual currency is that the more you buy, the higher discounts you get, up to an upper limit of 10%. Now even though that doesn’t sound like much, it’s a lot if you’re buying a lot of goods from the Amazon store, or buying a lot of apps for you idle Fire. The discounts add up to significant amounts, making investment in Amazon coins completely worth it, especially if you like apps to personalize your Kindle Fire. This gives you the advantage of spending less, while storing your money in the form of Amazon coins on your Amazon account. Which is definitely more secure than carrying it around in your wallet all the time.
Amazon released this virtual currency with the objective of providing customers with the convenience and speed that is associated with virtual currency. As the world gets used to more and more virtual currencies, or crypto currencies as they are called, Amazon has decided to try its hand out at the virtual currency market. The main advantage of Amazon coin over other virtual currencies is that it is very closely linked to ‘real’ currencies, which are still the main method of commerce all over the world. Due to this close link, it is much easier to get hold of Amazon coins and to use them than it is for other virtual currencies.
Finally, Amazon has planned to launch this currencies over multiple platforms, not limiting it to simply the Kindle Fire. This will enable more scope for the currency and give more people access to the currency, creating a place for Amazon in the world of virtual currencies and making sure that the company’s efforts bear fruit in endearing it to people even more.
