On April 1, Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart shocked its users when a tweet surfaced on its Twitter handle. The Tweet said, “The future is here. We now accept Bitcoin as a convenient mode of payment. Update your app now.” The Tweet sent Twitter in a frenzy with some users claiming that this is nothing but an April Fool’s joke while others welcomed the tweet thanking the e-commerce giant for jumping into future money. Find out: is Flipkart accepting bitcoin?
If this is a April Fools Prank I will sue you to the ground #Bitcoin
— Ash WSB ð¥ (@ashwsbreal) March 31, 2021
THIS IS HUGE, FLIPKART THANKS FOR JUMPING INTO FUTURE MONEYð¤
HOPE THIS IS NOT APRIL FOOL JOKEðð¤£
# NOT A FINANCIAL ADVICE
— Wise Advice By Sumit Kapoor (@sumitkapoor16) March 31, 2021
Is Flipkart accepting Bitcoin?
No, it was merely an April Fool’s Day joke and a very good one at that. Only three hours after posting its first tweet ab0ut accepting Bitcoin, Flipkart chased it with another tweet stating, “B̶i̶t̶c̶o̶i̶n̶ Super coin* Oops. #AprilFoolsDay. Many netizens saw the second tweet coming and predicted that this was an April Fool’s Joke. So for any of those wondering does Flipkart Accept bitcoin, the answer is a resounding, NO.
Headquartered in Bangalore, the Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has claimed to have more than 200 million users as of 2021. Hence if a company as huge as Flipkart started accepting Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency, it will be risking its stock prices. A report in Bloomberg Quint reveals that Cryptocurrency isn’t backed by the Reserve Bank of India yet and the government is set to introduce a law bringing a possible ban on private cryptocurrencies in the country. Naturally many Flipkart users seemingly doubted the veracity of the company’s claims.
While Flipkart tried to pull off an April Fool’s prank, the crypto space is often beset with fake news. Hence to regulate all of that Minister for State and Finance Affairs Anurag Thakur in early March this year, stated that the government has formed a High-Level Inter-Ministerial Committee to look into cryptocurrency. The committee’s report will act as the basis of the government’s legislative proposal.
Bitcoin made headlines most recently in February when Tesla announced in February 2021 that it has bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. The car company also started accepting payments in bitcoin in exchange for its products making it the first major automaker to do so. After Elon Musk tweeted announcing that bitcoin was an acceptable mode of payment now, the prices of cryptocurrencies skyrocketed.
Netizens react to Flipkart’s April Fool’s Day joke
Hope this is not an April fools joke lol
— BITCOIN GURU (@talkwthme) March 31, 2021
So am i deleting my Flipkart account
— HANNY MISHRA (@HannyMishra) March 31, 2021
Bitcoin is a store of value not like a currency. Bitcoin transaction fee is around 1.5K rupees now. No one wants to 1.5K for 200 rupee product. Better start using other realistic currencies like DOGE, ADA, ZIL etc
— Venu Prasad (@iknowvenu) March 31, 2021
Thanks just ordered tasla car from Flipkart with bitcoin. And very smooth transaction experience.
— Abhilash (@abhi_murari) March 31, 2021
I just ordered iPhone using Bitcoin ðð thanks Flipkart for 5 minutes fast delivery u rock
— Rahul_micky (@IExpect4) March 31, 2021