Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, has just announced its OnePay mobile app will soon support Bitcoin and Ethereum trading and custody. This move by the retail giant is significant in that it will foster mainstream adoption by putting digital currencies directly in the hands of tens of millions of cashiers, shoppers, and families of all income streams who have never dealt with cryptocurrencies.
As Cryptoslate reports:
“This is a tectonic shift for the entire sector. Imagine walking into your local Walmart, checking your grocery list, and toggling over to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum with the same ease as loading a gift card. That’s game-changing accessibility [and] it collapses the gap between ‘crypto trader’ and ‘everyday consumer’.”
Walmart’s move is about cementing itself as a one-stop hub in the age of digital finance – a great example of a major corporation choosing to adapt to disruptive technology – instead of neglecting it on the basis of current market standing. As we have often reported in our newsletter, blockchain and cryptocurrency is presenting a “Kodak Moment” for major corporations, institutions and most importantly the traditional banking sector.
In 1975, a Kodak engineer invented the first digital camera and in 1986 Kodak’s research labs developed the first mega-pixel camera. However, executives failed to make the right strategic choices to push into the digital camera sector, and, well, the rest is history.
“A generation ago, a “Kodak Moment” meant something that was worth saving and savoring. Today, the term increasingly serves as a corporate bogeyman that warns executives of the need to stand up and respond when disruptive developments encroach on their market.”
Walmart is adapting. With its reach into every corner of American life and a customer base measured in tens of millions, this is a major development in the holy grail of every crypto proponent: mainstream adoption.