Amazon and Walmart are evaluating the issuance of stablecoins for cross-border payments in a major shift into blockchain.
The era of stablecoins has successfully reached the doorsteps of top merchandise platforms Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT). According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), both firms are considering the possibility of issuing stablecoins backed by the United States dollar.
Handing Liquidity from TradFi to DeFi With Stablecoins
With this stablecoin move, multinational companies Amazon and Walmart aim to streamline e-commerce and cross-border payments. They want to drive the massive volume of cash and card transactions that they handle into the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector.
Amazon recorded $638 billion in annual revenue in 2024, while its global e-commerce sales topped $447 billion. Similarly, Walmart’s global e-commerce sales exceeded $100 billion in 2023, accounting for 17.8% of the company’s yearly total sales.
Adopting stablecoin for their payments move could relegate the Traditional Finance (TradFi) system, especially if it fails to integrate blockchain technology. Though this move may impact the TradFi sector, customers of these American companies will save billions of dollars in transaction fees by utilizing stablecoins.
Also, they would enjoy more instant settlements in seconds, unlike conventional payment gateways, which take longer. Both companies are still exploring the possibility of stablecoin issuance as they have not made any official announcement to this effect. However, the move reflects mainstream recognition of crypto prospects.
Apple, a global tech company, and Airbnb are allegedly considering corporate issuance of stablecoins for payment. Earlier this week, French financial services giant Societe Generale announced the launch of USDCV, its USD-pegged stablecoin through its crypto subsidiary Societe Generale-FORGE.
As with most stablecoins, USDCV is designed to deliver frictionless entry into the stablecoin ecosystem. It facilitates round-the-clock exchanges between traditional currencies and digital dollar or euro equivalents and provides the company with instant transaction settlement in both US dollars and euros.
Stablecoin Regulation Takes Shape in the US
This pivot towards stablecoin adoption is noteworthy because it indicates the improving regulatory framework in the United States, among other jurisdictions. The broader crypto industry has been advocating for Congress to pass the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS ACT) soon.
This GENIUS Act bill is designed to implement strict anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) protocols. It also requires that issuers maintain 1:1 reserves backed by US dollars. In addition to these features, it brings a layer of federal supervision for large issuers with a market cap exceeding $10 billion.
US lawmakers have been working on the GENIUS Act for several weeks, but not without some challenges. In May, crypto-friendly Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis hinted at the possibility of passing the GENIUS Act for US-based stablecoins on Memorial Day, May 26. However, this timeline did not work.
The US Senate successfully advanced the stablecoin bill with a 62-32 procedural vote. The GENIUS Act finally advanced in the US Senate earlier this week, with the final vote scheduled for June 17.
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