The main driver of Bitcoin’s value growth over the past two years has been institutional interest: hedge funds, pension funds, insurance companies and banks – all of them add cryptocurrency to their portfolio to diversify risks and insure against inflation. So, yesterday it became known about the acquisition by the Houston Firefighters’ Pension Fund (HFRRF) of Bitcoin and Ethereum for $ 25 million. However, retail demand remains no less strong, as more and more people learn about the new tool.
One of the main factors hindering the adoption of Bitcoin is its remoteness from the usual financial instruments – not everyone has cryptocurrency wallets or accounts on crypto exchanges. However, everyone is familiar with the device of ATMs. The appearance of crypto atms within walking distance can make cryptocurrency a truly massive tool.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) is the largest retail chain in the world with a capitalization of $409 billion, 2.2 million employees and 5 thousand stores.
As part of the pilot project, the company has installed 200 crypto atms throughout the United States in cooperation with Coinstar and Coinme. To buy Bitcoin, you need to deposit cash and receive a voucher, which will become active after creating an account on the Coinme platform. Such difficulties are caused by the need to comply with AML and KYC policies aimed at combating fraud and money laundering.
The commission for currency exchange and the purchase of Bitcoin is an impressive 11%
According to the Ascent agency, 20% of Americans surveyed want to purchase cryptocurrency, but do not know how to do it. Cryptobankomats are designed for this category of people.
Now there are 30 thousand crypto atms in the world, 87% of which are in the USA. Some of them allow you not only to buy, but also to sell cryptocurrency with cash. On average, 37 crypto atms are installed in the world per day, and the best growth rates are demonstrated by El Salvador, which recognized Bitcoin as the official currency this year.
The retail sector is more dependent on infrastructure for mass adoption of a new instrument. Last fall, the explosive growth in demand for Bitcoin was provided by the PayPal payment system (NASDAQ:PYPL), which introduced the ability to purchase, store and settle in cryptocurrencies. This year, Walmart can act as a similar driver if it adds a crypto bank to every store.
