US retail giant Walmart and Amazon are planning to issue their own stablecoins, aiming to bypass credit card networks and reduce transaction costs. As soon as the news from the Wall Street Journal came out today (13th), the financial world immediately focused on these two retail giants, potentially cultivating daily habits of using crypto payments.
Transaction Fee Reduction = Big Earnings
Currently, credit card "interchange fees" are around 1.5% to 3.5%. If switched to stablecoins, fees on the Solana chain would be approximately $0.00025 per transaction. A Walmart insider quoted by the Wall Street Journal said:
"Stablecoins can reduce settlement from days to minutes, with an even more significant cross-border effect."
Walmart has previously attempted to obtain an industrial loan license, and Amazon has internally evaluated a "shopping token" plan. With massive customer and supplier databases, both companies could significantly reduce billions of dollars in annual fees paid to Visa and Mastercard by introducing stablecoins.
Stablecoin Key: GENIUS Bill
The feasibility of stablecoin plans depends on the congressional GENIUS bill. The draft requires 1:1 reserves, monthly disclosure, annual audits, and compliance with AML and KYC regulations.
Walmart has supported adding amendments to the bill that encourage credit card competition. A legislative assistant explained:
"Without clear regulation, large merchants will not easily take risks."
Several Wall Street banks are also exploring shared stablecoin platforms to maintain their payment dominance. Visa and Mastercard have recently emphasized "on-chain settlement" tests, hoping to incorporate new technologies into existing networks.
For consumers, lower fees might be reflected in product prices or shopping rewards, but fund safety and privacy issues simultaneously emerge. Analysts warn that if retailers extensively hold short-term US Treasury bonds as reserves, it could impact national debt liquidity.
