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The payments industry may be on the cusp of one of its most dramatic shifts in decades.
Reports suggest that large retailers, notably Walmart and Amazon, are exploring the issuance or acceptance of their own stablecoins.
Big retail eyes stablecoin challenge
If realised, this move could strike at the heart of card-based payments, threatening billions in revenue for banks and networks such as Visa and Mastercard.
The rationale is simple: cost. Payment card interchange and network fees amount to billions for retailers every year.
For Walmart alone, analysts estimate transaction fees in the range of $3–5 billion annually.
When combined with the cost of handling cash — widely assumed to hover around 1% of value taken in — the retailer could face more than $5 billion in annual payment processing expenses.
Eliminating or even reducing this burden would deliver significant margin upside. One calculation suggests that $5 billion in savings could lift Walmart’s adjusted earnings per share by nearly 20 per cent.
An Alluring Alternative
Stablecoins provide an alluring alternative.
Unlike volatile cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, stablecoins are pegged to the US dollar or another fiat currency, ensuring predictable value.
They can be transferred almost instantly at minimal cost.
A Walmart-issued token — “WMT Coin”, for instance — could function much like an in-house payments network, redeemable only within Walmart’s ecosystem but offering customers lower friction and potentially loyalty benefits.
This idea is not theoretical.
Walmart filed a patent for a digital currency as far back as 2019, citing benefits such as providing financial services to the unbanked, reducing payroll costs for its 2.2 million employees, and curbing interchange fees.
Amazon has likewise shown interest in digital tokens, while other firms such as Expedia, Uber and Shopify are said to be exploring similar pathways.
Timing is Everything
The timing is notable.
Circle, the issuer of USD Coin (USDC), recently went public with a $40 billion valuation, boosted by new US legislation under the GENIUS Act, which clarified the regulatory framework for stablecoins.
This has lent legitimacy to an asset class once viewed with suspicion.
Circle’s model illustrates the commercial potential: its USDC is fully backed by cash and short-term Treasuries, processes transactions globally, and offers fees significantly below traditional card rates.
Yet challenges remain.
Payments networks are resilient because they align the incentives of all parties — banks, merchants, consumers and processors.
Achieving critical mass outside of the card oligopoly is notoriously difficult. Consumers must be persuaded to adopt, regulators must be satisfied, and infrastructure must be both secure and seamless.
Still, Walmart’s scale — 4,600 stores across the US, a billion monthly customer visits, and a history of battling card networks over fees — gives it a unique platform.
If even a fraction of transactions migrate to a Walmart stablecoin, the implications for the economics of payments could be profound.
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