Retail giant Walmart has filed a patent for its own fiat-pegged digital currency in the United States.
Filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on August 1, the application describes it as a process for “generating one digital currency unit by tying the one digital currency unit to a regular currency; storing information of the one digital currency unit into a block of a blockchain; buying or paying the one digital currency unit.”
Similar to Facebook’s Libra, Walmart is also targeting the financially excluded population, bringing them closer to the organized financial ecosystem.
“Using a digital currency, low-income households that find banking expensive, may have an alternative way to handle wealth at an institution that can supply the majority of their day-to-day financial and product needs,” the retail giant noted.
Walmart detailed that the digital currency might be pegged to USD; however, the prospect was mentioned as one of the scenarios to back the stablecoin.
In addition, it will provide zero or no-fee platform to allow the users to store the currency, similar to Calibra wallet.
“The digital currency may be pegged to the US dollar and available for use only at selected retailors or partners. In other embodiments, the digital currency is available for use anywhere. 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,” the application detailed.
Major companies jumping to the crypto arena
Walmart’s filed the patent within two months of the announcement of Facebook’s ambitious crypto project Libra. However, since then, the social media company is facing the wrath of lawmakers and regulators around the world.
A report by a G7 task force also stated that projects like Libra could damage the existing financial stability of the world.
(Photo: Walmart)
