I recently saw news that Walmart is considering introducing cryptocurrency payments into its retail system. Some say this is traditional retail "riding the crypto hot trend." But this judgment is actually far from accurate.

A careful study of Walmart's business history reveals a pattern: it never chases after trendy concepts. This company only cares about one thing—who is choking the supply chain and who is eating into profits.

Walmart is not a retailer, to be more precise, it is one of the world's largest cash flow clearing networks. With an average monthly transaction volume reaching hundreds of millions, it operates worldwide with over 2.3 million employees. What does such scale mean? It means that the transaction fees, clearing delays, and foreign exchange costs for each transaction are enormous numbers.

In traditional financial systems, the costs of payment and settlement are ingrained. Banks charge fees, card organizations charge fees, clearing agencies charge fees, and remittances go through multiple intermediaries—low efficiency and high costs. For Walmart, which processes millions of transactions daily, these costs add up to astronomical figures.

Cryptocurrency payments address exactly this pain point. Peer-to-peer transfers, lower intermediary costs, and cross-border settlements that settle instantly—this is not riding a trend; it is using technology to reconstruct its own settlement sovereignty.

For the crypto market, if this really materializes, the liquidity injection behind a top global retail giant could have a significant impact on market depth and user base, which is worth imagining.