Facebook’s Libra is all over the news: from regulatory bodies to fintech companies, everyone is excited about the “global currency” that the tech giant has been developing and has now officially launched its website.
Another huge player, however, may be filing its own stablecoin very soon. Walmart seems to have filed a patent showing the issuance of a potential USD-pegged stablecoin.
The patent filing was made public by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on August 1st, 2019. According to press, this is what the patent stated:
..a method for “generating one digital currency unit by tying the one digital currency unit to a regular currency”.
For now, the patent filing reveals that the stablecoin might be pegged to the USD and it might be available to only select partners of Walmart and not be made available to the general public.
In addition, the filing points that the coin can prove helpful to the low-income households to fight the costs of banking.
Walmart’s filing also says that that the digital currency may be able to replace credit and debit cards with cash, and can be used to pay for food items.
Storage of funds is another feature that the currency will provide, as the patent filing outlines:
The digital currency can provide a fee-free, or fee-minimal place to store wealth that can be spent, for example, at retailers and, if needed, easily converted to cash. Such accounts could even earn interest.
If Walmart truly created its own digital currency and Facebook’s Libra is also successful, the global perception of how we pay and transact with money will entirely change.
More about Walmart can be found here: