--- title: "Business Geniuses at Amazon Hard at Work on Hot New Idea: NFTs" description: "Jeff Bezos' Amazon is reportedly planning to launch a web3 initiative this spring, where customers can play \"crypto games\" to win NFTs." date: "2023-01-28" modified: "2023-01-28" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/amazon-nfts" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" - "NFTs" tags: - "Amazon" - "crypto" - "nfts" - "the digest" --- # Business Geniuses at Amazon Hard at Work on Hot New Idea: NFTs ![Jeff Bezos' Amazon is reportedly planning to launch a web3 initiative this spring, where customers can play "crypto games" to win NFTs.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Employee of the Month Jeff Bezos' Amazon is planning on launching a crypto gaming and NFT-focused web3 initiative, sources familiar with the matter [told web3 outlet *Blockworks*](). No, you didn't go back in time to January 2021. It's 2023, the crypto market [did in fact tank](), and the NFT bubble has all but burst as well. And yet, despite the [collapsed price floors](), [lawsuits](), and widely renewed skepticism of the expensive JPEGs, Amazon has decided that it's finally time to dive headfirst into the marketplace. "We knew it was possible," said a source, according to *Blockworks*. "But now it seems like it's really happening." ## Got Games? *Blockworks*' sources claim that the e-retailer has left no stone unturned in courting an array of major industry power players, with a strong focus on web3 gaming startups and "related NFT applications." "One example in the works, per one source," reads the report, is "getting Amazon customers to play crypto games and claim free NFTs in the process." Oh, good. Games. Amazon has also allegedly reached out to several "digital asset exchanges," because things are [going really well]() over there. ## AmazonCasino We have questions. Again, given the state of the broader cryptosphere as well as the NFT niche specifically, this is a very weird move on Amazon's behalf. It's hard to blame them for wanting to expand on [Prime Gaming](), indeed the natural next progression to their [Blob-like]() desire to expand on their [very expensive]() digital media empire, but an attempt to subject customers to "crypto games" for NFT prizes — which reads a lot like encouraging users to gamble with unstable, unregulated assets in an effort to win similarly unstable, unregulated assets *—* feels like an unnecessary risk for a company that already faces a fair share of public and political scrutiny. That said, Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy has [voiced interest]() in blockchain initiatives in the past. And in any case, while blockchain might be a turn for Amazon and its founder, we're not really sure what we expected. It's classic Bezos: [always last]() to [the party](), and only ever with bizarre, [half-baked](), [bordering-on-legality]() ideas to [show]() for it. At the very least, he's reliable. **READ MORE:** [*Amazon NFT Initiative Coming Soon: Exclusive*]() \[*Blockworks*\] **More on Amazon choices:** [*Amazon Kills off Feature That Let Customers Give Sales Proceeds to Charity*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()