Did Amazon Just Kill One of the Oldest Bitcoin Companies, Purse?

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Sead Fadilpašić

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Sead Fadilpašić

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Sead specializes in writing factual and informative articles to help the public navigate the ever-changing world of crypto. He has extensive experience in the blockchain industry, where he has served...

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June 26, 2023 06:54 EDT

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Bitcoin company Purse will close its doors six years after its launch, and a theory is that e-commerce giant Amazon’s recent commission rates slashes are behind it.

Purse – a company that enabled a savings options with up to 5% discounts on Amazon, allowing Amazon gift card holders to complete somebody’s purchase in return for their bitcoin (BTC) or bitcoin cash (BCH) – announced yesterday that a “difficult decision to dissolve the company” has been made.

New signups have already been disabled, and ongoing orders and withdrawals will be supported until June 26, when Purse will cease operations, says their announcement.

However, as of yet, the company has not offered a reason behind this decision. Redditors, though, think they might know why. User ‘bitusher’, for example, finds that Amazon’s alleged 50%-70% commission rate cut for its affiliates program in each category is behind this. CNBC reported this information two days ago, citing an Amazon spokesperson confirming the news, with the new rates coming into effect on April 21. This article shows cuts up to 10% though. That said, ‘bitusher’ thinks that Purse was already in a financially tight spot and that this pushed it over the edge.

“Unfortunately with Amazon’s commission cuts they would be running a charity to keep the site operational. But I’m sure you could fork it and relaunch for us?,” comments ‘mills-dmb’.

There are many other speculations and some more drastic explanations floating around. ‘HeyMistrScredy’, for example, believes the reason behind the shutdown to be that “a majority of it was legit money laundering,” and CranialZulu seems to agree with these allegations.

The speculation may be all the more reason for Purse to follow ‘mills-dmb’s’ suggestion, saying that the community “would appreciate more details on how and why you made this decision.”

We have contacted Purse and Amazon and will update should they reply.

Meanwhile, many people expressed their disappointment to see the company shut down, including developer Udi Wertheimer and Tiffany Hayden, known as once being among XRP greatest supporters.

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