After the major Wall Street banks, is Walmart and Amazon also going to issue stablecoins?

Walmart, Amazon, and other multinational giants are exploring the issuance of their own stablecoins, aiming to save billions of dollars in fees each year while directly challenging traditional payment systems.

According to The Wall Street Journal on Friday, Walmart, Amazon, and other multinational giants have recently begun exploring the possibility of issuing their own stablecoins in the United States, with online travel giant Expedia and other large companies, including airlines, also discussing plans to issue stablecoins.

This move is not a spur-of-the-moment decision. Each year, these retailers pay billions of dollars in fees within traditional payment systems, including interchange fees incurred when customers use credit cards for shopping. Payment settlements often take several days, delaying the time merchants receive sales revenue. Stablecoins offer the potential for faster settlements, which is particularly attractive for merchants with overseas suppliers.

Reports indicate that Amazon's related efforts are still in the early stages, with some discussions focused on launching the company's own token for online shopping. Even if they decide not to issue their own stablecoins, these companies are weighing how to use external stablecoins, such as through a merchant alliance led by a stablecoin issuer.

Regulatory Legislation as a Key Variable

Retail giants have long sought to introduce alternative payment solutions to bypass the card-based systems dominated by Visa and Mastercard, although most of these efforts have failed to gain widespread adoption.

But this time may be different—following the Trump administration's relaxation of cryptocurrency regulations and the advancement of the GENIUS Act to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins, stablecoins are poised for unprecedented development opportunities. Stablecoins are essentially digital tokens that maintain a one-to-one exchange ratio with the dollar or fiat currencies, backed by reserves of cash or cash-like assets such as government bonds.

Reports state that a commercial trade organization led by a merchant payment alliance has been in talks with U.S. lawmakers in recent months to push for the passage of the GENIUS Act. These trade organizations argue that a regulatory framework for stablecoins would provide merchants with an alternative payment method that could significantly reduce their costs and compete with Visa and Mastercard.

Walmart has also lobbied for a separate amendment to be added to the GENIUS Act to introduce more competition in the credit card industry, as this retail giant has long sought to enter the financial services sector, hoping to leverage its network of millions of customers and employees.

However, there are still some market concerns regarding the security of stablecoins and the regulatory implications of participating in digital assets. The ultimate direction of this payment revolution will largely depend on the clarity of regulatory policies and the outcomes of various stakeholders' negotiations.

Crisis Awareness in the Banking Sector

If retail and tech giants launch payment systems that bypass traditional payment systems, it will cause panic in the U.S. banking industry. With their vast networks of customers and employees, extensive data, and relatively relaxed regulatory environments, retail and tech companies have long been viewed as a unique threat to the banking industry, including regional and community banks.

In the face of this threat, large U.S. banks have not remained idle According to a previous article from Wall Street Journal, top U.S. financial institutions such as JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo are exploring the possibility of issuing a joint stablecoin. These discussions involve enterprises jointly owned by these banks, including Early Warning Services, which operates the peer-to-peer payment system Zelle, and the real-time payment network Clearing House.

Insiders reveal that these banks are preparing to respond to the potential widespread adoption of stablecoins under the Trump administration, which could divert deposits and transactions they handle, especially if large tech companies or retailers also get involved