News Story
On August 1, it was discovered that the supermarket giant, Walmart, had patented a stable coin project, backed by US dollars. If released into the wild, US dollar-based cryptocurrency would be issued to some Walmart retailers and partners, while the patent description explained that the coin could also be used outside of Walmart's retail business. The Walmart patent follows the recent announcement of the Libra by Facebook and the specifications of the "Walmart Coin" are also similar to the social media giant's project.
I read this article with some amazement because Walmart is a household name in America with Walmart stores in every state here in America. The embracement of blockchain technology by a company the size of Walmart, with its 11,450 plus stores, in the most lucrative consumer market in the world, is quite an endorsement of the power and efficiency of the blockchain. We have seen Facebooks foray into cryptocurrency, the Libra. But I think Walmart’s foray into cryptocurrency is different from FaceBooks for a couple of reasons.
Walmart has tried to be your bank. In the past Walmart applied to the necessary regulatory agencies for a broad license to create financial institutions in its stores. This effort was met with unusually heavy resistance and even Walmart, whose owner Tom Walton, was at the time the richest man in the world with a personal net worth over 12 Billion dollars, he lost this struggle to be a bank and all that entails.
Walmart’s customers are a size able portion of the unbanked in America. The banks, through the FDIC publish data every year on growing number of the unbanked in America, who are by most definitions described as people with no checking accounts or credit cards, who don’t have access to affordable credit, they pay high interest rates to companies like Pay Day loans, and these are people who buy the majority of their purchases with cash.
I think these people are the perfect customers for a cryptocurrency stable coin like Walmart Coin.
Why? These people have been pushed to the fringes of financial society and deemed not credit worthy.
They are already off the banking grid, but not by choice. They need inexpensive and portable banking services.
They already trust Walmart to lower the costs of the goods they need in everyday life. They could be eager utilizers of “Walmart Credit” a consumer loyalty program tied to this cryptocurrency, which would give them access to credit and goods that are out of the reach of cash buyers, like new cars.Walmart tried to be the bank for this huge population of consumers who have made the name Walmart one of the most widely known names in the western world. They failed years ago, when there was no Bitcoin, no blockchain. This time is different.
Walmart has the money, to hire enough developers with expertise in both the front end and the backend to build the cryptocurrency similar to the SMT we are developing to create the ultimate Loyalty Program.
Walmart has a vision, I believe to create credit and combination fiat and cryptocurrency accounts that aren’t tied to any one location, but are tied to Walmart. Walmart already has a division called Walmart Financial Services. They already have credit services. Expanding into cryptocurrency is their work around the highly regulated banking and finance industry.
Closer
it seems like the stars are aligning for Walmart to launch a cryptocurrency coin used by both its customers and employees, and if it throws in some sweeteners to encourage its use, like discount products, low or no banking fees and access to consumer credit to finance the purchase of consumer goods that are out of the reach of cash buyers, like brand new cars. I think they will have something big.
✍🏼 By Shortsegments