Last week in review: Will that be cash, card, or crypto?

Bitcoin is back over $50k, but that’s the least of the excitement this week. There’s growing interest in cryptocurrency payments among major retailers, Twitter is getting into crypto mining, and there’s good news for Cool Valley residents.

A lot happened in crypto last week. Here are our top picks to come from it.

Will that be cash, card, or crypto?

Walmart, America’s largest retailer by sales, is on the lookout for a cryptocurrency product lead who will help identify customer trends in the space.

According to the job spec, the role also includes driving Walmart’s digital currency strategy and identifying crypto-related partnerships and investments.

This isn’t the first time Walmart has expressed interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. The retail giant has previously experimented with distributed ledger technology away from finance, with a focus on tracking medication and food along their supply chain.

Missouri residents could get free Bitcoin

Missouri Mayor Jayson Stewart is raising capital in order to give each of Cool Valley’s 1,500 residents up to $1,000 of bitcoin.

“It’s digital gold,” said Stewart. “I would like to see every single household in my city receive some level of Bitcoin, whether it be $500 or $1,000.”

Stewart hopes to launch his Bitcoin initiative by the end of the year, and has received great support from donors who have agreed to match any amount that he raises, which could be up to several million dollars.

“I’m trying to get a few government funds to go along with that. Or potentially some of the relief money that comes in from the Covid relief,” he said.

The caveat, though, is residents won’t be able to sell their BTC for a period of time.

“We’re putting in place a vesting schedule for Bitcoin,” Stewart said. “The idea is that maybe you don’t touch it for five years before you really get full access to it.”

Twitter poised to become partially decentralised while Jack Dorsey mines Bitcoin

Crypto developer Jay Graber is set to lead Twitter’s mission to create a decentralised social media protocol.

Graber, who contributed to the privacy coin project Zcash, has also been the recipient of the Ethereum Foundation grant, helping further her efforts in a decentralisation project called InteRep.

In a 2020 blog post, Graber wrote, “Efforts to decentralise social networks hope to structurally change the balance of power in favor of users by giving them the ability to change services easily and control their identity and data.” Could this be a sign of things to come?

Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey is excited by Graber’s appointment and the prospects that come with it, saying it’s, “Another step towards decentralising Twitter and social media.”

Dorsey has been an active player in the crypto space for several years, endorsing bitcoin-based projects and incorporating BTC into his payments app, Square.

Paying for your house in BTC could be a reality by year-end

United Wholesale Mortgage, the second-largest mortgage lender in the US, expects to accept Bitcoin by the end of the year.

According to CEO Mat Ishbia, the mortgage lender hopes to be the first to offer a payment option in crypto, saying, “I think we’re starting with Bitcoin, but we’re looking at Ethereum and others.”

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