Hey
Did a quick search and didn't see this posted yet. Found this interesting overview of a patent that Amazon filed in 2014, a few years before they bought those domains (amazonethereum.com, amazoncryptocurrency.com, amazoncryptocurrencies.com.)
http://darkcitycrypto.com/index.php/2018/04/19/amazon-filed-a-patent-to-de-anonymize-bitcoin-transactions-and-sell-the-data-to-law-enforcement/ The article states a few use-case scenarios for why Amazon might do this, which basically summarize to being able to determine physical addresses behind crypto transactions:
The purpose here would be to combine data from different retailers and look for common points, such as a shipping address or IP logs and then start to put together a picture of the real identity of the person using Bitcoin or any other crypto currency.
Personally, I'm not sure I see a negative here (as a crypto user), other than the potential of *more* targeted ads; however, I certainly don't see how this might benefit me (or the community) in any way.
What are your thoughts? any potential red flags I'm not seeing?
Any potential positive outcomes?