Amazon denies report of accepting bitcoin as a payment. Bitcoin tumbles 8.5%; lost $3,000 in 20 minutes

The price of Bitcoin surged by over $5,000 after series of positive news including a report from London’s City A.M. newspaper that Amazon was looking to accept bitcoin payments by the end of the year. But e-commerce quickly poured cold water on the report.

This evening, Amazon denied the City A.M. report saying the speculation around its specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true, according to a report from Reuters, citing Amazon spokesperson.

“Notwithstanding our interest in the space, the speculation that has ensued around our specific plans for cryptocurrencies is not true,” Amazon spokesperson told Reuters.

The rumor surrounding Amazon accepting bitcoin as payment started on July 22 after the e-commerce giant posted a job opening for a digital currency and blockchain product lead.

The news quickly sent the price to rise by as much as 14.5% to an all-day high of 40,309.10 before the world’s most popular cryptocurrency fell to $36,973.20 as of the time of writing.

“We remain focused on exploring what this could look like for customers shopping on Amazon,” the company said.