Walmart CTO Weighs in on the Role of Crypto Disruption

The chief technology officer of the world’s largest retailer thinks crypto lies abreast three areas of technological disruption: product discovery, payment and delivery.

In comments to the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit on Oct. 17, Walmart CTO Suresh Kumar said that Walmart is keenly aware of the technological trends in the retail sector, and the potential ways in which Web3 may impact how customers shop in the future. 

“I have talked before about the way in which customers are getting inspired and discovering products — that is changing — and part of that is going to happen in the Metaverse,” Kumar said.

The retail giant is also planning to adapt to customer demands for new payment rails, Kumar said. 

“I think a lot of the disruption is going to start happening in terms of different payment methods, different payment options…crypto is going to continue to play a very important role in that,” Kumar said.

“Crypto will become an important part of how customers transact. 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,” he said.

Other Walmart connections to crypto

Walmart previously added members to its board of directors who also have crypto industry links. 

The company’s lead independent director, Tom Horton, who also serves on the board of Blockchain.com, told Blockworks in February, “I see blockchain technologies as another great enabler, much like the internet was in its early days.”

Sarah Friar joined Walmart’s board in February 2018 and earlier this year became a board member of industry powerhouse ConsenSys, where she advises the company on Web3 business models. She is also a former chief financial officer of Square, prior to its blockchain-focused rebranding as Block.

Walmart is currently pursuing non-blockchain metaverse-like experiences with Roblox. The company filed 7 patents at the end of 2021 related to NFTs and the metaverse.

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