Walmart Installs 200 Bitcoin ATMs Across US

Walmart Inc (WMT.N) said on Thursday customers at some of its U.S. stores will be able to purchase bitcoin using ATM-like machines installed by Coinstar.

The US-based retailer Walmart has partnered with coin-cashing machine company Coinstar and crypto-cash exchange CoinMe to set up 200 Bitcoin ATMs in its stores across the US.

Even though the pilot features only 200 kiosks, the wider launch aims to eventually see the installation of 8,000 bitcoin ATMs across the country, as reported by Bloomberg. For now, there are no more details available about the timelines of these installations.

Based on Coin ATM Radar, there are more than 25,000 bitcoin ATMs at some selected grocery stores and service stations in the US. Coinstar operates 4,400 kiosks that support Bitcoin purchases across 33 states.

Clients can use the Bitcoin ATM by inserting a banknote and getting a paper voucher with a redemption code.to redeem that code, users need to create a Coinme account and then complete a background check. Customers cannot withdraw Bitcoin from their account, without any indication of plans to offer the functionality in the short term.

These Bitcoin ATMs have an 11% surcharge, consisting of a 4% fee for the Bitcoin option, and an extra 7% cash exchange fee. In comparison, popular cryptocurrency trading platforms Coinbase and Binance charge 3.99% and 3% to 4.5% for credit and debit card purchases respectively.

October 22, 2021