Shoppers At Walmart Can Now Buy Bitcoin Across 200 Coinstar Kiosks Across Its Stores

Retail giant Walmart Inc has recently started a pilot program wherein shoppers can buy Bitcoin via Coinstar kiosks installed at 200 locations across the United States.

On Thursday, October 21, Walmart spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said that they started testing this feature at the Coinstar kiosks earlier this month. Bitcoin ATMs have been around for a while in the market. However, with retail giants like Walmart facilitating it at their shopping centers could provide an additional fuel to mainstream Bitcoin adoption.

Furthermore, this move will also help Walmart expand thereby bringing legitimacy to the world’s largest cryptocurrency. CoinDesk was among the first to report this news after testing the facility at one of Coinstar kiosks. Customers willing to buy BTC had to insert a pair bill in the Coinstar machine and get a voucher against it.

However, before the vouchers can be redeemed, users must set up a Coinme account and pass a background check. Coinme is a crypto wallet and payments firm that specializes in Bitcoin ATMs. 

Walmart said: “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.”

Well, this looks to be quite a confirmed unlike that Litecoin fiasco. Last month in September, several big publications reported that Walmart has started accepting the Litecoin payments at its stores. However, as the news went viral, Walmart rejected any such development in the market.

This led to a classic pump and dump in the price of LTC. But with the recent development, it will be further interesting to see if Walmart start accepting Bitcoin payments going ahead.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency has had a pretty good run-up this year hitting an all-time high of $67,000 earlier this week after the launch of the ProShares strategy Bitcoin ETF.

Bitcoin has attracted strong institutional inflows with several established players and pension funds buying BTC. The Houston Firefighters’ Pension fund recently announced that it has invested a big amount in Bitcoin via a leading investment company NYDIG.

Ajit Singh, HFRRF's Chief Investment Officer said: "We have been studying digital assets' transformative potential for some time, and we are pleased to have a partner of NYDIG's caliber to ensure secure, robust and efficient execution, and enhanced compliance as we enter this new market."