EDITORIAL | Amazon and Walmart Want to Kill $143 Billion in Bank Fees – With Stablecoins

With the U.S Senate passing the GENIUS Act stablecoin legislation, two of the world’s largest retailers, Amazon and Walmart, are quietly building their own USD stablecoins – and it’s not just about embracing blockchain tech. It’s a strategic move to disrupt a $143 billion industry that’s been taxing merchants for decades: the payments business dominated by traditional banks.

The Problem: Every Tap of Your Card Pays a Toll

Every time a customer swipes or taps a card, three parties take a cut:

* VISA and MasterCard claim around 0.14% in network fees.

• Payment processors like Stripe and Fiserv take roughly 0.40%.
• Issuing banks – the big winners – walk away with 1.8% in interchange fees.

These small percentages add up. In the last year alone:

• VISA and MasterCard collected $19 billion
• Payment processors earned $30 billion
• Banks took home a staggering $143 billion in interchange fees

That’s $143 billion in what is essentially a hidden tax on U.S. merchants – and Amazon and Walmart are tired of paying it.

The Strategy: Replace the Middlemen With Stablecoins

Instead of relying on traditional card networks and banking intermediaries, both retail giants are exploring USD-backed stablecoins to streamline payments and control the rails themselves.

Here’s what stablecoins offer:

• Real-time, on-chain settlement
• Full control over cash flows
• No reward-funded markups
• Elimination of intermediary fees

Contrary to popular belief, the goal isn’t to kill VISA or MasterCard – it’s to bypass the banks and eliminate interchange fees that drain merchants annually.

Their vision is clear:

• Replace cards with tokens
• Replace bank float with programmable dollars
• Replace legacy networks with smart contracts

And now, U.S. regulation is catching up.

The Timing: Legal Clarity Arrives With the GENIUS Act

The recent passage of the GENIUS Act by the U.S. Senate marks a turning point. For the first time, there’s a federal framework for USD stablecoins:

• Allows issuance by banks, fintechs, and qualified state entities
• Requires 1:1 reserves, monthly audits, and AML compliance
• Opens the door for regulated corporate stablecoin initiatives

This shift comes as major players are already making moves:

• Ripple launched RLUSD
• JPMorgan launched JPMD for institutional stablecoin settlements
• Tether is tailoring U.S.-specific products
• Amazon and Walmart are now positioning stablecoins as key to their retail dominance

Why This Matters: Stablecoins Go From Crypto Hype to Strategic Infrastructure

Today’s stablecoin market sees over $1 trillion in monthly volume, with more than 90% driven by proprietary trading firms, hedge funds, and market makers. Most of this activity is used for settlement, rebalancing, and liquidity across exchanges – not retail payments.

But Amazon and Walmart are about to change that.

If they issue their own stablecoins and push them into everyday commerce, it’s not just a tech upgrade – it’s a direct attack on the foundations of traditional banking.

• Interchange fees? Gone.
• Merchant economics? Rewritten.
• Bank revenue streams? Disrupted.
• Consumer rewards programs? Upended.

In short, this could redirect over $100 billion in annual revenue flows away from the banking sector and into programmable, merchant-controlled ecosystems.

What we’re witnessing isn’t just a quiet fintech experiment. It’s a full-blown transformation of the payments landscape. With legal clarity, institutional momentum, and retail giants at the helm, stablecoins are poised to become the backbone of global commerce.

Amazon and Walmart aren’t just building new payment systems – they’re launching a calculated assault on the old ones.

Stay tuned to BitKE for deeper insights into the global crypto regulatory updates.

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