Bitcoin (BTC-USD) has fallen away from recent highs after Amazon (AMZN) denied a report that it was considering accepting cryptocurrencies as payment.
Bitcoin and other cryptos rallied on Monday amid speculation that the e-commerce giant was poised to accept digital money.
Amazon recently posted a job listing for a “Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead”. London paper CityAM ran a story on Sunday night saying Amazon was poised to accept bitcoin, ethereum, Cardarno, and BitcoinCash.
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Amazon denied the CityAM story in a statement late on Monday.
“Notwithstanding our interest in the space, the speculation that has ensued around our specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true,” an Amazon spokesperson told Yahoo Finance UK. “We remain focused on exploring what this could look like for customers shopping on Amazon.”
Bitcoin had climbed as high as $40,000 (£28,954) on Monday but retreated after Amazon’s statement. The world’s biggest digital currency was 4.3% to $37,087 by 8.15am in London on Tuesday.
The broader cryptocurrency market was also in decline. Ethereum (ETH-USD) was down 6.8% to $2,200, Cardarno (ADA-USD) was 8.5% lower at $1.25, and BitcoinCash (BCH-USD) was down 6% to $476. The cryptocurrency market lost 5.2% of its value over the last 24 hours, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.
While bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were off Monday’s highs, most remained above where they traded on Sunday night. Analysts said the spike on Monday triggered a wave of buying from traders who were shorting bitcoin and now wanted to close their positions.
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