For the past year, Amazon has been making development for its Kindle Fire tablets easier and more lucrative. Now the retail giant is ready to enter into the next phase of setting up a thriving mobile marketplace – virtual currency.

Amazon announced today that it will be launching Amazon Coins in May. The new virtual currency is expected to bring in even more revenue to apps and games on Kindle Fire devices. To help kickstart the new currency, Amazon says it will be giving away “tens of millions of dollars worth of Coins” to customers to spend on “Kindle Fire apps, games, or in-app items.”

“Developers continue to report higher conversion rates on Amazon compared to other platforms,” said Paul Ryder, Vice President of Apps and Games for Amazon. “Now we have another new way to help developers reach even more of our millions of customers. Amazon Coins gives customers an easy way to spend money on developers’ apps on Kindle Fire in the Amazon Appstore—and we’re giving customers tens of millions of dollars in Amazon Coins to get started.”

Does the advent of Amazon Coins signal the end of traditional payment methods on Kindle Fire devices? Not in the least as Amazon plans to support both payment methods going forward. Amazon Coins will function more like a wallet of sorts that parents can funnel money into.

As for developers, integration of Amazon Coins will happen automatically. If your game is already on the Amazon Appstore, consumers can use Coins in it as soon as the service launches in May. Those who don’t already have an app in the Appstore will need to be approved by April 25 to take advantage of the launch of Amazon Coins.

Developers will also be happy to know that Amazon Coins will not shortchange them. Amazon will still offer the standard 70 percent cut to all developers regardless of the currency used.

Developers who want to learn more about Amazon Coins can check out the company’s handy new documentation. If you have yet to submit an app to the Amazon Appstore, you can learn how to do that here.