
Walmart filed patent for “Digital Currency via Blockchain” - momentmaker
https://cointelegraph.com/news/walmart-is-trying-to-patent-its-own-libra-like-digital-currency
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dexwiz
So this is what the new scrip for the company store looks like? Facebook is
having a hard time getting Libra started, but it will be trivial for Walmart.
All they have to do is give employees a bonus to get paid in Walbucks over
USD/Euro/Other, and maybe a slight discount when using it. Walmart already
employs thousands or even millions that are economically vulnerable, in part
because Walmart destroyed their local retail economy. This would only lock
those people in further.

How long before Amazon announces their coin? Free Prime delivery if using
A-Coin!

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kapnobatairza
IIRC Amazon has a perks program for their high performing employees called
Swag bucks which can be used to purchase prime and shop at Amazon :).

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krapp
>which can be used to purchase prime and shop at Amazon :).

I wish.

At least at the Amazon FC where I work, they can purchase cheap branded stuff
like water bottles, lanyards and t-shirts, gift cards and coupons for the
commissary, but not Prime or general purchases.

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kapnobatairza
I think a lot of technologists and cryptocurrency advocates conflate a few
different concepts - A "digital currency", a "decentralized ledger"
(blockchain), and "trustless consensus". Technologies like Bitcoin combine all
3, but you don't necessarily need to combine them.

I see WalmartCoin and Libra as "digital corporate currencies" which will
compete with digital FIAT currencies. This already exists to an extent, for
example people spend and trade Amazon gift cards because they are fungible and
redeemable anywhere. Or people buying Steam wallet funds with their USD. Or
people buying pre-loaded Amex gift cards?

Can we just think about Libra et al. as alternatives to fiat currencies? Or as
a "digital wallet" / "gift card" you can spend anywhere?

What is the difference between me having a Libra wallet with $100 that I can
spend at participating merchants, vs. me having a $100 prepaid Amex giftcard
that I can spend at participating merchants? The only real difference is now I
can actually transfer "my" money to others.

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christkv
Nothing they are al just trying to become the next MasterCard or visa to reap
the benefits of being the clearing house and make some sweet $$

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seanalltogether
At what point should the federal government make a serious attempt at becoming
a digital processor for USD transactions. If a payment mechanism existed for
free transactions of any amount, paid for by normal American taxes, that would
revolutionize digital payments. Let the banks compete on fees for managing
accounts and support and fraud, and the government can handle the processing
infrastructure and uptime guarantees.

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solotronics
So the same organization that runs the DMV should become the worlds largest
payment processor? I will stick with a bank and Bitcoin.

edit: I know the DMV is not the federal government I was just making a
exaggerated point

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buttcoinslol
The federal government does not operate "the DMV". Each state does.

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forinti
Maybe the fact that these companies are coming up with their own currency
shows that they are just too big.

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WalterSear
In this case I think it's more simple than that: someone I know has done
design consultancy work with Walmart, and told me that every new product
they've pursued was something that had been in the news a few days before they
brought it up.

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xivzgrev
Walmart used to be the innovator / leader. Now it just seems they are chasing
trends. There doesn’t seem to be a coherent digital / tech strategy (at least
on the consumer facing side).

Walmarts core is poor, rural/suburban America. How can wal-mart use tech to
make their lives better? Same day home delivery is an obvious one, say every
$X you spend in store you get a free same day home delivery credit. That would
be nice / appreciated by folks struggling to get by.

Target, at least, seems to be doing its own thing vs constantly copying
amazon/tech X, and I respect them for that.

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replyguy912
>> Walmarts core is poor, rural/suburban America.

Maybe in 'Merica but not in Canada. It's the go-to for the huge array of
products between Costco & the grocery store for a wide set socioeconomic
segments. If it's a supercentre they get lots of the grocery dollars too.

They give you free shipping on everything, including big, bulky items like
diapers. I think this is more important for lower income folks than same day
delivery.

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lalaland1125
Quick question for other people on HN: What is the difference between a USD
backed "digital currency" and a bank account?

As far as I can tell they are one and the same. In both cases you have an
account balance that can be digitally transferred and the value of that
balance completely depends on a trusted entity (a bank or the entity "backing"
the digital currency).

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chansiky
Well if it’s on a publicly available blockchain, the difference is that the
information on how much money is in circulation, how much is being created, is
all open to the public and verifiable. The information on how much banks are
holding onto in fractional reserves should therefore be available and make
cooking the books more difficult and allowing audits to be more accurate and
hopefully regulations could exist to keep banks better in check.

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jeromegv
Why is it so hard to audit those bitcoin exchanges then?

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ISL
A public blockchain is straightforward to audit. It is the documentation
internal to an exchange which can be opaque.

If trading is done off-chain, or transactions are made _between_ currencies,
those are not a part of the blockchain. For bitcoin-only transactions between
wallets, no exchange is required.

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jimbob45
This is a pretty straightforward antitrust case, right? They're leveraging
their position as one of the largest employers in the US to gain a unfair
competitive advantage for their digital currency if they pay their employees
with it.

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overcast
This is just going to lead to company scrip. Once again history will repeat
itself.

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gamechangr
I’m not sure we want Facebook to have access to large amounts of verified
consumer purchasing information.

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devoply
No body wants shop tokens. It's like all these guys have discovered arcade
tokens.

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jon-wood
I’m pretty sure there’s plenty of people who’ll happily take ship tokens if
they give a 10-20% discount on purchases.

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dragandj
So, Walmart would pay 10-20% to people to use its shit tokens, but what would
it gain?

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overcast
Revenue.

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johntiger1
Selling a dollar for 80 cents, i'll have unlimited revenue this year :)

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vineyardmike
So this is just a play to avoid the Credit Card processing fees right?

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Havoc
>patent

Not convinced they quite grasp the point of a digital currency...

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momentmaker
I think JP Morgan and Bank of America both tried to patent a bunch of
blockchain tech.

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JustSomeNobody
So is this the 2019 version of the store credit card?

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GrumpyNl
These cryptos are becoming the new company binded cc.

