Various companies and business are looking to make a name for themselves in the money transfer industry. Mainstream solutions such as MoneyGram are quite convenient to send funds all over the world, but their fees are rather high. While Bitcoin seems to be an obvious contender in this industry, Walmart has their own service to send money between locations. In fact, this Walmart 2 Walmart option has been getting a bit of attention from LocalBitcoins users.
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Walmart 2 Walmart Takes on MoneyGram
It would be a bit of a stretch to say Walmart 2 Walmart and MoneyGram are direct competitors in the money transfer industry, although their business models are fairly similar. MoneyGram made a name for itself as being a convenient way to send and receive money all over the world, similar to how Western Union operates.
But at the same time, services like MoneyGram will not make it cheaper to send funds abroad, as they still rely on an archaic financial system of banks and other intermediaries. In fact, when it comes to sending money abroad, very few people will have used MoneyGram in the past, although it remains unclear as to why this would be the case.
Bitcoin is an obvious threat to both MoneyGram, Western Union, and any other competitor in the money transfer industry. With its very low fees and near real-time transfers, Bitcoin has taken the remittance world by storm, although the sector still needs to mature in the coming years. Not everybody in the world has an internet connection, and solutions have to be found to get Bitcoin into the hands of as many people as possible.
Surprisingly enough, major retailer Walmart has built up their own money transfer service. It has to be noted, however, that Walmart 2 Walmart will only allow users to send funds between the brand’s locations. With a far lower service fee than MoneyGram, it is a convenient way to send funds throughout the United States for a small cost.
The Walmart 2 Walmart process is rather simple and resembles the handling of transfers through other money transfer companies. Senders will fill in a form with the recipient’s details, pay in cash, and get a code they can then give to the recipient for pick-up. Everything is very straightforward, and the service can be accessed in the Customer Services section of any Walmart.
A New Way to Buy And Sell Bitcoin
Even though very few people had ever heard of Walmart 2 Walmart so far, the service has been getting attention from Bitcoin users in recent weeks. On LocalBitcoins, there are a few people looking to buy or sell Bitcoin in exchange for a Walmart 2 Walmart transfer.
Using this type of money transfer would eliminate the need for meeting up with someone in person to hand over cash, but it can also be seen as a risky way of dealing with Bitcoin funds, After all, a Walmart 2 Walmart transfer is non-refundable once it has been sent, so always tread with caution.
Source: Reddit
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