Amazon rumored to be accepting Bitcoin, MicoStrategy pledges to buy more BTC, Bitcoin

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top Stories This Week

 

Amazon plans to accept Bitcoin payments this year, claims insider

The crypto community was going wild at the beginning of this week after rumors circulated that Amazon was planning to accept Bitcoin payments. 

The rumors started after Amazon posted a job opening for a digital currency and blockchain product lead on July 22. Four days later, an anonymous source within Amazon reportedly told London business newspaper City A.M. that the e-commerce giant was planning to start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments by the end of 2021. 

“This isn’t just going through the motions to set up cryptocurrency payment solutions at some point in the future — this is a full-on, well-discussed, integral part of the future mechanism of how Amazon will work,�? the source told City A.M., according to a report published on Sunday.

Chinese crypto journalist Colin Wu attributed Monday’s surging market action, during which Bitcoin gained roughly 15% in less than three hours, to Amazon’s rumored plans. 

How wrong that very self-assured sounding quote from an unnamed source turned out to be after the multinational giant refuted the speculation two days later. 

“Notwithstanding our interest in the space, the speculation that has ensued around our specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true,�? a spokesperson said.

 

Bitcoin struggles at $40K after ‘most confusing’ Jerome Powell press conference

Bitcoin rose above $40,000 on July 29, a day after the Federal Reserve hinted that it was getting closer to winding down its asset purchasing program that has boosted the economic recovery of the United States. 

The digital gold previously approached $41,000 ahead of the critical Fed update. Unsurprisingly, it started losing upward momentum after the Federal Open Market Committee released its policy statement, followed by a press conference helmed by the Fed’s chairman, Jerome Powell.

Powell had previously said that the Fed’s asset purchases would continue until it sees “substantial further progress�? in the U.S. economic recovery. However, for a while, it was unspecified as to what that actually meant, and Powell finally cleared that up after being questioned in a July 28 press conference.

Turns out that “substantial further progress�? means strong labor numbers and gains towards maximum employment. 

Maximum employment refers to the highest level of achievable employment that the economy can sustain while maintaining a stable inflation rate. Given the rise of inflation and the decline of jobs due to the pandemic, the Fed’s maximum employment targets may need further clarification.   

BTC investors have been closely monitoring how soon the central bank might unwind its…