Bitcoin tumbles 9% following Amazon payment plans denial

Trading on media speculation is a risky endeavour.

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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has broken its 6-day run of consecutive price grains (as reported here yesterday), falling 4% over the past 24 hours.

One Bitcoin is currently worth US$36,807 (AU$49,739).

That's down 9.2% from the US$40,539 the token was trading for just 7 hours ago.

What's moving the Bitcoin price?

There are numerous forces at work moving Bitcoin's price in either direction.

Today's falls look to be related to media speculation surrounding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Amazon is one of the largest companies in the world, reporting roughly US$386 billion in revenue in FY20.

On Monday, British newspaper City A.M. reported that, "Amazon is looking to accept Bitcoin payments 'by the end of the year', and is investigating its own token for 2022, says an insider."

This came after Amazon posted a job vacancy over the weekend for a cryptocurrency and blockchain professional to join their team.

And it aroused the animal spirits of crypto investors, keen to see Jeff Bezos follow in the footsteps of fellow multi-billionaire Elon Musk.

Earlier this year Musk gave the green light for Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) to accept Bitcoin as payment for its vehicles. A move Musk has temporarily suspended until the world's biggest crypto manages to source at least half its monumental energy needs from renewable sources.

And just as markets witnessed following Musk's earlier endorsement, the Bitcoin price gained strongly on the unsubstantiated rumours that Amazon would begin accepting it across its payment platforms.

Amazon denies rumours

Amazon put an end to those rumours late yesterday in news that's likely helped drive Bitcoin lower.

In an email to CoinDesk, an Amazon spokesperson wrote:

Notwithstanding our interest in the space, the speculation that has ensued around our specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true. We remain focused on exploring what this could look like for customers shopping on Amazon.

It's not just Bitcoin heading lower over the past 24 hours. Ethereum (CRYTPO: ETH), the world's second biggest crypto by market cap, is falling too, down 6.1% since this time yesterday to US$2,179.

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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Amazon, Bitcoin, and Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Ethereum and has recommended the following options: long January 2022 $1,920 calls on Amazon and short January 2022 $1,940 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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