Walmart Land

Walmart CTO says crypto will become a ‘major’ payments disruptor

Suresh Kumar suggested that crypto will become an important payment tool across the Metaverse and social media, as these areas will be a major way customers discover new products.

Walmart’s global chief technology officer (CTO) Suresh Kumar has tipped cryptocurrency to become a “major” area of disruption, particularly in how customers pay for virtual and physical goods in the future. 

Speaking at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit on Oct. 17, Kumar outlined Walmart’s positive stance on digital assets, noting that “crypto will become an important part of how customers transact” for both physical and virtual goods.

“I think that there are three major areas of disruption. Crypto falls in sort of the middle of it,” he said, explaining that “the way in which customers are getting inspired and discovering products” is changing.

Kumar also suggested that a significant amount of customers will be marketed to through the Metaverse and live streams on social media apps, and that crypto could be an important payment option in these kinds of areas.

“When you specifically talk about crypto, it is going to be about discovery of products, whether it is physical or virtual inside, either the Metaverse or upfront, and then how people transact.”

Such may explain Walmart’s recent foray into the Roblox Metaverse, launching Walmart Land in late September. The company is hosting a range of virtual experiences there such as games, a DJ booth and Ferris wheel, while also offering virtual merchandise products called “verch” for users’ avatars.

NFTs and crypto are not integrated with the Roblox metaverse at this stage, however Walmart has previously indicated in patent filings from January that it could look to create digital currencies, tokens and NFTs in the Metaverse space sometime in the future.

“We want to make sure that we make it as friction free for customers to be able to transact, and to be able to buy, and how they are able to derive value out of it. And that is where– I think a lot of the disruption is going to start happening in terms of different payment methods, different payment options,” he said.

Related: Facebook is on a quest to destroy the Metaverse and Web3

The multinational retail giant has been rumored to have been working on rolling out crypto payment support for a while, but so far only false alarms have arisen such as the fake deal with Litecoin (LTC) that was announced via a dubious press release from September last year.

As it stands, there were around 200 Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs installed at Walmart stores across the U.S. in October 2021, with plans at the time to expand that number to 8,000 at an unspecified time in the future.

Walmart CTO says crypto will become a ‘major’ payments disruptor

Suresh Kumar suggested that crypto will become an important payment tool across the Metaverse and social media, as these areas will be a major way customers discover new products.

Walmart’s global chief technology officer Suresh Kumar has tipped cryptocurrency to become a “major” area of disruption, particularly in how customers pay for virtual and physical goods in the future. 

Speaking at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit on Oct. 17, Kumar outlined Walmart’s positive stance on digital assets, noting that “crypto will become an important part of how customers transact” for both physical and virtual goods.

“I think that there are three major areas of disruption. Crypto falls in sort of the middle of it,” he said, explaining that “the way in which customers are getting inspired and discovering products” is changing.

Kumar also suggested that a significant amount of customers will be marketed to through the Metaverse and live streams on social media apps, and that crypto could be an important payment option in these kinds of areas:

“When you specifically talk about crypto, it is going to be about discovery of products, whether it is physical or virtual inside, either the Metaverse or upfront, and then how people transact.”

Such may explain Walmart’s recent foray into the Roblox Metaverse, launching Walmart Land in late September. The company is hosting a range of virtual experiences there such as games, a DJ booth and a Ferris wheel, while also offering virtual merchandise products called “verch” for users’ avatars.

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto are not integrated with the Roblox metaverse at this stage. However, Walmart has previously indicated in patent filings from January that it could look to create digital currencies, tokens and NFTs in the Metaverse space sometime in the future.

“We want to make sure that we make it as friction free for customers to be able to transact, and to be able to buy, and how they are able to derive value out of it. And that is where– I think a lot of the disruption is going to start happening in terms of different payment methods, different payment options,” he said.

Related: Facebook is on a quest to destroy the Metaverse and Web3

The multinational retail giant has been rumored to have been working on rolling out crypto payment support for a while, but so far only false alarms have arisen such as the fake deal with Litecoin (LTC) that was announced via a dubious press release from September last year.

As it stands, there were around 200 Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs installed at Walmart stores across the United States in October 2021, with plans at the time to expand that number to 8,000 at an unspecified time in the future.

Nifty News: Walmart steps into the Metaverse, ‘@NFT’ founder hacked and more

AC Milan partners with Solana blockchain-based football game MonkeyLeague, while Pixelmon attempts a comeback after poor reception to its NFT collection in February.

American retail giant Walmart has taken its first steps into the Metaverse with the launch of Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play on Roblox.

According to the company’s Monday announcement, Walmart Land focuses on “immersive experiences,” with key features including a physics-defying Ferris wheel, unlockable tokens and badges, an interactive piano walkway and a D.J. booth for users.

Products from Lottie London, Bubble, UOMA by Sharon C and other brands will also feature in the virtual world, along with a store of virtual merchandise, or “verch,” for user’s avatars.

In October, Walmart Land will add a motion-capture concert called Electric Fest, featuring performances from music artists YUNGBLUD, Madison Beer and Kane Brown.

Meanwhile, Walmart’s Universe of Play offers games with products and characters from Jurassic World, Paw Patrol, Magic Mixies and Razor Scooters, and the chance to explore toy worlds, earn coins and redeem them for virtual goods.

The retail corporation first signaled intentions to enter the Metaverse after filing a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Dec. 30, covering its own “digital currency” and “digital token,” while a separate application covered a trademark for the Walmart brand in virtual reality and augmented reality.

Founder of now-banned “@NFT” account gets hacked

Co-founder of Leverage Game Media Jason Falovitch became the victim of a hack over the weekend with his account on nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea cleaned out of a Mutant and Bored Ape and two Doodles.

Falovitch has claimed the hack has cost him over $1 million in Ether (ETH) and NFTs. 

Falovitch is also the founder of the since-banned “@NFT” Instagram and Twitter handles, which have both been suspended after repeated violations of platform community guidelines, and comes after allegations it promoted NFT projects without proper disclosures. 

In a post to his more than 170,000 Twitter followers on Sunday, Falovitch, known as jfx on Twitter, said he was hacked the night before, urging the public not to buy any of the items or anything else from his wallets.

Falovitch is known among the community as the founder of the “@NFT” account on Twitter and Instagram. He is also the co-founder of Leverage Game Media, a company he co-founded with American billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban which owns NFT assets and claims to help promote NFT projects through major sports social media pages.

However, his prior involvement with the banned social media accounts has not escaped some of the grudge-holding community members, with some calling the recent hack “karma.”

Pixelmon rises from the ashes

After a less-than-stellar response to the launch of its NFT collection back in February, Pixelmon has come back with a new plan and fresh leadership under LiquidX, a Web3 venture capital studio.

According to the company statement, LiquidX acquired a 60% stake in the project, and LiquidX co-founder Giulio Xiloyannis will serve as CEO of Pixelmon.

Earlier this year, many early minters of the Pixelmon NFT collection were left disappointed after the project revealed the finalized art in February, which ended up being well below expectation.

Under new leadership, however, the updated Pixelmon roadmap now turns the underwhelming monsters from the original NFT collection into 3D characters that can be used within the forthcoming Pixelmon massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).

Pixelmon was originally slated to launch a playable alpha of its MMORPG before the end of 2022, but now alpha testing for the game will begin in Q1 2023, with the game now set for release in late 2023.

The new roadmap under LiquidX also includes the future launch of virtual land NFTs and separate utility and governance tokens to fuel Pixelmon’s economy.

AC Milan partners with Solana-based MonkeyLeague

Professional football club AC Milan (Rossoneri) has inked a new deal with MonkeyLeague, a Web3 football game built on the Solana blockchain — becoming yet another sporting brand to leverage the technology for fan engagement.

The partnership will see the creation of exclusive AC Milan branded NFT game assets, including new players for the game, skins, in-game clothing and stadiums.

Casper Stylsvig, chief revenue officer of AC Milan, said the club is “thrilled” and called the collaboration one “that allows us to strengthen our positioning in the field of digital innovation.”

According to the MonkeyLeague website, the game is a Web3-based esports game that will allow users to build and manage a dream team of at least six MonkeyPlayer NFTs, compete against other players and climb the league ranks. 

AC Milan was founded back in 1899 and is currently the reigning champions of Serie A, Italy’s top league football division.

Related: Disney seeks corporate lawyer for ‘emerging technologies’ and NFTs

More Nifty News:

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The co-founder of NFTGo, Tony Ling, believes the mainstream presence in the NFT space isn’t a game changer, but innovation will be a key factor in adoption.