Could mega-retailer Walmart launch its own stablecoin?

Give its resources and reach into the consumer sector, yes, and it might given Facebook’s own Libra stablecoin a rival of sorts.

While Facebook has formally announced its own stablecoin – Libra – Walmart has recently filed a patent with the government for a US dollar-pegged yet-to-be named stablecoin offering. The filing states that the potential coinage looks to serve underserved or low-income persons that find tradition banking alternatives too costly.

Please click here for the filing

The filing, published in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently, gives a detailed blueprint for “generating one digital currency unit by tying the one digital currency unit to a regular currency.” That would be a stablecoin.

Furthermore, this new blockchain-based digital currency “may be pegged to the US dollar,” the filing added, and could be used at “only at selected retailors or partners.”

“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,” the filing reads. “Digital currency may be tied to a national currency, such as the US dollar, so funds can be added or taken out easily. The digital currency value could, in some embodiment, be tied to other digital currencies.”

The patent was originally filed in January and is application #20190236564