Walmart filed patent for "Digital Currency via Blockchain"

Patent filing number 20190236564, "System and Method for Digital Currency via Blockchain," was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Aug. 1. The document outlines a method for:

"Generating one digital currency unit by tying the one digital currency unit to a regular currency; storing information of the one digital currency unit into a block of a blockchain; buying or paying the one digital currency unit."

Walmart continues to outline that the proposed digital currency project can provide a zero-  or low-fee place for users to store wealth; one that can easily be redeemed and converted to store cash at selected retailers or partners. Such accounts could even be interest-bearing, the filing adds.

The digital currency could alternatively be developed so that it can be spent anywhere, the filing states, with prospective USD backing ensuring greater ease of deposits and withdrawals. It could, in another scenario, be tied to other digital currencies, rather than fiat ones.