Earlier this month, Walmart Inc. began to test new kiosks provided by Coinstar by offering gift cards and paper bills in exchange for coins. According to Molly Blakeman, Walmart's spokesperson, two hundred of the initial 8,000 machines are ready to take the next step and offer the possibility to buy BTC.
The news comes only weeks after the Litecoin hoax. A fake report claimed that the supply chain plans to accept Litecoin as a prospective form of payment. However, this time around, the information has been confirmed by Coinstar on their website, later supported by Bloomberg.
The kiosks are set to provide a BTC voucher upon payment after creating a Coinme account. Potential buyers also have to undergo a background check and pay a fee of 4%.
“It is an expensive way to buy Bitcoin, but lowers the barriers to entry for first-time buyers of crypto,” says Sam Doctor, chief strategy officer at the BitOoda crypto brokerage. He adds that the “Bitcoin ATMs have been around for a while” and their adoption at Walmart expands on their legitimacy in the eyes of skeptics.
There is no further information on when a full-scale adoption of Bitcoin kiosks is set to arrive at Walmart. However, you can locate the 200 pilot Bitcoin kiosks at Coinstar’s website.
