Ethereum Beats Out Walmart, Mastercard To Be 25th Largest Asset In The World

Ethereum has been up with the recovery in the market, growing as fast as bitcoin in the space. This has seen the market cap of the cryptocurrency rise rapidly. While it had lost its footing in the list of top assets by market cap in the world following the price crash, it has since gained back enough of its previous value to put the digital asset above some of the largest companies on the list.

Ethereum Is Bigger Than Walmart

With a recovery above $3,200, Ethereum has once again solidified its place as one of the most valuable assets in the financial sector. Although it is only half a decade old, it continues to compete with companies that have been in operation for decades, boasting a higher market cap than others despite their widespread use around the world.

Related Reading | Stablecoins Total Market Cap Breaches $179 Billion Mark – Can It Go Higher?

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After losing about $100 billion of its market cap following the crash that saw its fallen crumble from above $4,000 to below $3,000, it has begun to claw its way back up. At its current price, atheneum’s market cap is back up at $382.34 billion. It’s a long way from its all-time high but a significant value nonetheless, one that puts it ahead of giants like Walmart and Mastercard.

The digital asset is now sitting at 25th place on the list of the most valuable assets in the world. While this number may seem a bit low, a look through the list helps put in perspective just how large the cryptocurrency has gotten.

Ethereum price chart from TradingView.com

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ETH settles above $3,200 | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com

Ethereum sits ahead of world-class names and brands on the list. Most of these are households names and are leaders in their various industries. Besides Walmart and Mastercard, the digital asset boasts a larger market cap than the likes of Home Depot, Alibaba, Disney, Coca-Cola, Pepsico, among others.

Where Does Bitcoin Sit?

Bitcoin is the most valuable cryptocurrency in the crypto space. Its market cap is twice as large as that of ethereum, which holds the spot for the second-largest. With a market cap of $839.60 billion, bitcoin sits considerably higher on the list compared to the number 2 cryptocurrency.

Related Reading | Three Arrows Buys Your ETH, Addresses Swell After Hinting Bearish Stand

Presently, bitcoin’s market cap places it at 9th place on the list of most valuable assets in the world. It comes out ahead of social media giant Meta (formerly Facebook), payments giant Visa, legendary investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, among a slew of others.

It is truly remarkable what assets in the crypto space have been able to achieve despite the industry being a little over a decade old. The more the space grows, the higher they will move up on the list.

Featured image from Currency.com, chart from TradingView.com

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Retail Giant Walmart Files Trademarks for Its Own NFT Marketplace and Cryptocurrency

New trademark documents indicate retail giant Walmart is interested in joining the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto.

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the retail corporation has submitted a United States trademark application for an NFT marketplace that provides a platform for “buyers and sellers of downloadable digital goods authenticated by non-fungible tokens.”

In a separate application, Walmart filed for a virtual currency trademark relating to “financial transaction services involving cryptocurrency non-fungible tokens and blockchain technology.”

A third application involves software associated with cryptocurrencies that “allows users to perform electronic business transactions via a global computer and communication networks.”

Walmart filed all three applications on December 30th, and they are all currently live and awaiting examination from the USPTO.

The applications are not Walmart’s first foray into the world of crypto.

In August, the megastore announced that it was looking for a cryptocurrency product lead to spearhead the company’s digital currency strategy.

And in October, the company rolled out 200 Bitcoin-dispensing kiosks in collaboration with the digital currency exchange platform CoinMe and coin-cashing machine company Coinstar.

Walmart was also subject to a hoax in September when prominent media networks spread false information indicating the company was partnering up with popular peer-to-peer payments network Litecoin (LTC).

Walmart follows in the footsteps of Facebook and sportswear giants Nike and Adidas, all of which appear poised to take on the metaverse.

Facebook rebranded to “Meta” in October, with the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing new plans to build the metaverse.

Nike filed a trademark application that same month for products involving “downloadable virtual goods… for use online and in online virtual worlds.”

And the Adidas Originals Twitter account announced in early December that it was partnering with premier NFT brands and influencers to explore the metaverse.

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Walmart to Launch its own Crypto and Collection of NFT

Well-known U.S. retailer Walmart appears to be laying the groundwork for its foray into the Metaverse, documents filed shown with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office late last month, showing that Walmart is preparing to create its own collection of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens.

Walmart filed a total of seven applications on December 30, along with several new trademark applications, three of which belonged to “Walmart Connect” (the name of the company’s existing digital advertising business), indicating an intention to manufacture and sell virtual goods, including electronics, home décor, toys, sporting goods and personal care products.

Walmart has no comment regarding trademarks.

In a statement, it is “continuously exploring how emerging technologies may shape future shopping experiences,” Walmart said, according to the report from CNBC:

“We are testing new ideas all the time.Some ideas become products or services that make it to customers. And some we test, iterate, and learn from.”

Walmart has been exploring its capabilities in the cryptocurrency space. In August of this year, The multinational retail giant in the United States, Walmart, posted a job posting about hiring the leader for cryptocurrency and digital products.

Walmart Inc, the world’s largest retailer, announced on Thursday, October 21, that customers at some of its U.S. stores will be able to buy Bitcoin using ATMs installed by Coinstar.

In early November, Nike filed a series of trademark applications, previewing its plans to sell virtual branded sneakers and apparel.

As reported by Blockchain.News on December 14, NFT platform RTFKT Studios, which integrates reality into fashion and games, announced on its official Twitter account on December 13 that it has been successfully acquired by sports brand giant Nike.

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Walmart Installs 200 Bitcoin ATMs in Stores As Retail Giant Launches New Crypto Pilot Program: Report

Walmart customers can now add crypto to their shopping lists as the retail giant has started a pilot program that adds Bitcoin-dispensing machines to some of its locations.

In collaboration with digital currency exchange platform CoinMe and coin-cashing machine company Coinstar, the megastore says that it has released 200 Coinstar kiosks in Walmarts around the nation that dispense BTC, according to Reuters.

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According to Bloomberg, Walmart’s pilot program is part of a wider effort by Coinstar to release 8,000 kiosks around the country that customers can use to buy BTC.

To use the machines, customers would insert bills and receive a voucher. The buyers would then have to sign up for a CoinMe wallet and pass a background check to redeem the voucher for Bitcoin. The machines charge a 4% fee for BTC purchases, along with a 7% cash exchange fee, according to Coinstar.

The development comes on the heels of Walmart announcing that it was looking for a cryptocurrency product lead to spearhead the company’s digital currency strategy in August.

However, Walmart was subject to a hoax a month later where fake news was spread by prominent media networks saying that the company was partnering up with popular peer-to-peer payments network Litecoin (LTC).

Bitcoin is exchanging hands at $61,475 as of writing, an 8.5% decrease from its seven-day high of $67,118, according to CoinGecko.

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Walmart Deploys 200 Bitcoin ATMs In Its Stores

  • Walmart has started a pilot program to bring bitcoin purchasing capabilities to Coinstar kiosks in some of its U.S. stores.
  • The pilot is part of a broader partnership between Coinstar and Coinme to offer BTC at over 8,000 kiosks, 200 of which are in Walmart stores.
  • “Walmart expands Bitcoin access to more people…and gives it further legitimacy among skeptics,” brokerage firm BitOoda CSO Sam Doctor said.

Walmart has started a pilot program to bring bitcoin purchasing capabilities to 200 Coinstar kiosks in some of the retailer’s U.S. stores, Bloomberg reported. The initiative is part of a broader cooperation between Coinstar, the maker of machines that allows customers to exchange coins for paper bills or gift cards, and cash-to-bitcoin exchange Coinme to offer BTC at more than 8,000 kiosks in the U.S.

“Bitcoin ATMs have been around for a while, including in many supermarkets,” Sam Doctor, chief strategy officer and head of research at cryptocurrency brokerage firm BitOoda, told Bloomberg. “Walmart expands Bitcoin access to more people, though, and gives it further legitimacy among skeptics, should they roll it out beyond an initial pilot.”

The initiative was first reported by CoinDesk, which tested the service. Customers purchasing BTC insert dollar bills into the Coinstar kiosk and receive a voucher, which can be redeemed for bitcoin minus a 4% fee charged by the machine. But customers need to set up a Coinme account and pass a background check to redeem the voucher.

“Coinstar, in partnership with Coinme, has launched a pilot that allows its customers to use cash to purchase bitcoin,” Walmart communications director Molly Blakeman told CoinDesk via email. “There are 200 Coinstar kiosks located inside Walmart stores across the United States that are part of this pilot.”

“It is an expensive way to buy Bitcoin, but lowers the barriers to entry for first-time buyers,” Doctor added.

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Walmart Installing Bitcoin ATMs in its Retail Stores

Walmart Inc, the world’s largest retailer, announced on Thursday, October 21, that customers at some of its U.S. stores will be able to buy Bitcoin using ATMs installed by Coinstar.  

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Walmart stated that it has begun a pilot program where consumers can purchase Bitcoin as Coinstar kiosks in some of its U.S. stores.

Molly Blakeman, Walmart communications director, talked about the development and stated that:

“Coinstar, in partnership with Coinme, has launched a pilot that allows its customers to use cash to purchase bitcoin. There are 200 Coinstar kiosks located inside Walmart stores across the United States that are part of this pilot.”

Mr. Blakeman said that the pilot test by Coinstar started earlier this month, and the pilot program includes 200 kiosks in Walmart stores.

The program is part of a broader initiative by Coinstar, which has partnered with a cryptocurrency exchange and payment firm called CoinMe that specializes in Bitcoin ATMs, to allow customers to purchase Bitcoin at some of its kiosks.

The Walmart spokesperson stated that there are 200 Coinstar kiosks located inside Walmart stores across the U.S. that will allow consumers to purchase Bitcoin.

Coinstar, which is best known for its machines that allow customers to exchange physical coins for cash, plans to provide Bitcoin at more than 8,000 kiosks worldwide.

Walmart Expanding Its Virtual Payment Options

Walmart is testing the pilot service program weeks after the firm became a subject to a cryptocurrency hoax in September when a fake press release was published, claiming that Litecoin (LTC) would be accepted as payment at Walmart stores. The phoney news sent values of the little-known crypto token surging.

Though the announcement was false, Walmart is examining the future of cryptocurrency in its business operations.

As reported by Blockchain.News in August, Walmart advertised to hire cryptocurrency experts to help the firm develop “the digital currency strategy and product roadmap” while identifying “crypto-related investment and partnerships,” a time when an increasing number of Fortune 500 companies warm up to digital currencies.

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200 Bitcoin ATMs installed at Walmart… with plans for 8000 in total

Walmart has partnered with coin-cashing machine company Coinstar and crypto-cash exchange Coinme to install 200 Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs in its stores across the United States. 

Although the pilot includes only 200 kiosks, the broader launch plans to eventually see the installation of 8,000 Bitcoin ATMs across the country, according to Bloomberg. There have been no further details on timelines as of yet.

According to Coin ATM Radar, there are currently over 25,000 Bitcoin ATMs at select grocery stores and service stations in the United States. Coinstar operates 4,400 kiosks enabled for Bitcoin purchases across 33 states.

Sam Doctor, chief strategy officer and head of research at BitOoda, told Bloomberg that Bitcoin ATMs aren’t a new development and can already be found at many supermarkets:

“Walmart expands Bitcoin access to more people, though, and gives it further legitimacy among skeptics, should they roll it out beyond an initial pilot.”

Customers can use the Bitcoin ATM by inserting a banknote and receiving a paper voucher with a redemption code. To redeem the code, customers need to then set up a Coinme account and complete a background check. Users cannot withdraw Bitcoin from their account, with no indication of plans to offer this functionality in the near future.

The Bitcoin ATMs have an 11% surcharge comprising a 4% fee for the Bitcoin option plus an additional 7% cash exchange fee.

As a point of comparison, popular crypto trading platforms Binance and Coinbase charge 3%–4.5%, and 3.99% for debit and credit card purchases, respectively. It is free to make a direct deposit from a bank account to a Binance or Coinbase wallet.

The news was welcomed as a sign of mainstream adoption by some, including influencer Lark Davis, who tweeted, “Wal Mart selling #bitcoin now… cool!” However, other users have complained about the high fees.

“BTC ATM fees are notoriously high plus the ‘current’ BTC price is always way higher when buying and lower when selling,” tweeted Ikegro in response to the news.

“It’s a ripoff, but at least it’s a sign of adoption — they think some people might want BTC enough to pay huge fees,” commented Reddit user u/Axatar in the subreddit r/CryptoCurrency.

Related: Bitcoin Depot’s crypto ATMs surpass 5,000 as adoption grows

This isn’t the first sign of interest that Walmart has shown in the crypto world. In August, the retail giant announced that it was seeking a crypto product lead to drive the company’s digital currency strategy. The job listing has since been removed from Walmart’s website, but an advertisement for the role remains on LinkedIn.

Walmart China has also teamed up with blockchain-based supply chain management platform VeChain to track products.

There was some skepticism over the Bitcoin ATM news, however, which comes hot on the heels of a fake Walmart press release in September, which announced a partnership with Litecoin (LTC). The hoax briefly sent prices of the altcoin surging more than 20%.

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Walmart Clarifies False report, Not Accepting any Litecoin for Payment

Retailer Walmart issued a press release on Monday, September 13, to clarify a false report about its previous announcement of a partnership with Litecoin (LTC), stating that the company has no relationship with Litecoin.

The clarification was released on the same day after a fake press release issued by GlobeNewswire. This false press release indicated that Walmart would accept shoppers to use Litecoin as a method of payment. Other well-known media organizations have also reported this news. After Walmart’s official verification, these media companies all corrected timely.

In the previous fake press release mentioning the partnership with Wal-Mart, Litecoin quickly rose by 20%. After the news was corrected, Litecoin withdrew from the increase. At the time of writing, Litecoin was trading at $177.28 with a slight increase in 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap.

Yet, Walmart’s stock price did not fluctuate sharply because of this incident.

Walmart spokesperson Randy Hargrove said the press release was untrue. It also mentioned that Walmart’s team actively contacted the news line company to investigate how the fake press release was issued.

GlobeNewswire media agency stated that the false news was released from a fraudulent user account. A spokesperson representing GlobeNewswire responded to the incident:

“This has never happened before and we have already put in place enhanced authentication steps to prevent this isolated incident from occurring in the future. We will work with the appropriate authorities to request – and facilitate – a full investigation, including into any criminal activity associated with this matter.”

At 9:50 am Eastern Time, Litecoin issued a press release on its official Twitter account stating that Charlie Lee, the managing director of the Litecoin Foundation, would respond to this incident.

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Litecoin Creator Charlie Lee on Fake Walmart News: “We Really Screwed Up This Time”

Key Takeaways

  • Charlie Lee appeared on Bloomberg this afternoon to discuss a fake press release that suggested Walmart would use Litecoin.
  • Lee denied that the Litecoin Foundation was involved in the incident and said that neither he nor the project profited from it.
  • However, he did take responsibility for the Litecoin Foundation’s accidental role in spreading the story.




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Litecoin creator Charlie Lee appeared on Bloomberg TV to discuss a fake press release that appeared this morning.

Lee Was Fooled by the News

Earlier today, a fake news release suggesting that Walmart had plans to accept Litecoin as payment was published. It quickly circulated among various news outlets including Reuters.

During an interview this afternoon, Lee said that he was initially taken in by the fake news. “I was like, wow, that’s awesome…and it turned out to be fake,” Lee told Bloomberg reporter Emily Chang.

He explained that GlobeNewswire, which initially published the press release, is working with authorities to investigate the incident and its perpetrator. Reportedly, GlobeNewswire also intends to implement stronger authentication for those who submit future press releases.


Lee said that his project has little role to play in the investigation. “In terms of us as the Litecoin Foundation, there’s not much we can do,” Lee said. He added that fake news is often spread, both in the crypto industry and the world of traditional stock trading.

Litecoin Foundation Saw No Benefits

Lee asserted that the fake news did not come from an individual involved in the Litecoin Foundation. “It’s definitely not anyone on our end…so I’m going to deny it,” he said.

He also argued that the Litecoin Foundation did not benefit from the price surge that resulted from the press release. Lee revealed that he personally holds about 20 LTC ($3500). “This means I have no incentive to do something like this,” he noted.

Lee noted that Litecoin is a decentralized project, meaning that anyone may have had the motive to submit fake news.

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Despite those denials, Lee took responsibility for Litecoin’s social media accounts, one of which accidentally shared the news today.  He said that the Litecoin Foundation now understands how influential its Twitter account is and that it will better verify news in the future.

“I mean, we try very hard not to tweet fake news, and this time we really screwed up…we will try harder,” Lee said.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this author held less than $75 of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins.

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Bitcoin (BTC) $ 38,766.39 0.50%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,100.06 0.35%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 71.67 0.78%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 226.67 0.75%