Retail giant Walmart launches trial for Bitcoin ATMs
US retail giant Walmart has now introduced ATMs that could let users buy Bitcoin at Walmart’s 200 locations in the United States, Bloomberg and crypto news media Coindesk reported Thursday.
As part of its pilot program, Walmart partnered with coin-cashing machine company Coinstar and crypto-cash exchange CoinMe to install 200 ATMs on its stores, a number which might eventually turn to 8,000.
Coinstar had partnered with CoinMe to enable consumers to exchange US Dollars with Bitcoin. When users insert Dollars into a machine, they receive a paper voucher. Thereafter, users are required to set up a Coinme account and complete KYC registration in order to redeem the voucher.
Sam Doctor, CSO of cryptocurrency broker BitOoda, told Bloomberg:
“Walmart expands Bitcoin access to more people, though, and gives it further legitimacy among skeptics, should they roll it out beyond an initial pilot.”
As per the Coinstar website, these ‘BTMs’ have an 11% surcharge, 4% fee for the Bitcoin option, and a 7% cash exchange fee.
“It is an expensive way to buy Bitcoin, but lowers the barriers to entry for first-time buyers of crypto,” Doctor said.
Walmart has launched its pilot program weeks after the company was subjected to fake news. On September 13, a hoax press release stating that WalMart had partnered with Litecoin was posted on the major PR news site GlobeNewswire.
It resulted in major news sites covering the story before Walmart came forward and subsequently denied it in an official statement.
Litecoin had skyrocketed for a while after the news was reported but immediately fell back after the rumor was dealt with.
However, this isn’t the first time Walmart was interested in the crypto market after it revealed plans to launch an official Walmart stablecoin in 2019. In 2019, it announced a plan to issue its own stablecoin temporarily, and also applied for a patent at the US Patent and Trademark Office.
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OhNoCryptocurrency via https://www.ohnocrypto.com/ @Gauri Bhatia, @Khareem Sudlow
