Walmart Partners with Coinstar to Offer BTC to Customers

Walmart is partnering with coin kiosk company Coinstar. The firm is setting up digital currency kiosks throughout several Walmart stores in the United States to give new customers access to digital currencies like bitcoin.

Walmart Is Pushing Bitcoin Forward

Coinstar has joined hands with a firm known as Coinme, a digital currency wallet company that offers crypto ATMs. This has empowered Coinstar machines to provide customers with a convenient and fast way to trade and purchase digital assets. These machines will soon be available at several Walmart stores, thereby making digital currency closer to being offered to people nationwide.

As it stands, not every store is permitting access to the machines just yet. This is all part of a pilot program designed to test bitcoin’s appeal to shoppers. Should enough of them decide to utilize the machines, more will be installed at various Walmart locations.

A representative of the retail giant has issued the following statement:

Coinstar, in partnership with Coinme, has launched a pilot that allows its customers to use cash to purchase bitcoin. There are 200 Coinstar kiosks located inside Walmart stores across the United States that are part of this pilot.

Coinstar has worked hard to ensure the bitcoin-buying process is relatively easy for everyone involved given that many of the people likely to use these machines are either new to the space or first-time buyers. Thus, there is a long FAQ (frequently asked questions) page on its site. One of the first things that customers will have to do to use the machines is sign up for a Coinme account. From there, they can use one of the many devices at local Walmart locations to purchase bitcoin, though at press time, this can only be done with cash.

In addition, coins are not accepted to engage in purchasing. Rather, one must use only paper money to complete their purchases. Buyers are also required to have exact change when buying their BTC, and they cannot sell crypto they already own for fiat.

A Few Hits and Misses

Walmart has been a rather up-and-down company when it comes to crypto innovation. On the one hand, the company recently put out an ad in search of a new crypto specialist that could help it roll out its new blockchain program. The company is clearly looking to compete with Amazon, as prior the retailer had issued a similar job posting.

At the same time, rumors circulated recently that Walmart and Litecoin – one of the most popular altcoins in the digital currency space – had formed a partnership that would allow customers to utilize LTC to pay for goods and services. Sadly, this turned out not to be true. The data came from a phony press release, and the company still has not explained how it even came about.

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