Since early 2026, Walmart has allowed its customers to pay with Bitcoin and Ethereum via its OnePay app. The retail giant has thus adopted cryptocurrencies, but does not support external wallets. This partial integration has drawn some criticism.
Walmart Accepts Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies
According to the U.S. media outlet CNBC, retail giant Walmart has been accepting payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies since the beginning of the year.
This is made possible by the expansion of its OnePay payment service—launched in late 2025 in partnership with Zerohash—to include direct Bitcoin payments at the checkout.
OnePay is the financial services platform developed by Walmart, combining several features such as mobile banking, a digital wallet, debit card rewards, and payment management.
Accessible via an app, it allows users to track their finances, make payments, take advantage of simple management tools for their daily purchases, and now trade cryptocurrencies.
BULLISH – CNBC reports that Walmart will now accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, and crypto payments in-store for its 1 billion monthly customers. pic.twitter.com/43L4eCEyWd
— Altcoin Daily (@AltcoinDaily) January 4, 2026
With the new “OnePay Cash” feature, users now have access to a cryptocurrency conversion service: customers can pay with Bitcoin, which is automatically converted to dollars at checkout, making it easier to use cryptocurrencies in everyday shopping.
This service has several objectives, such as offering greater flexibility to Walmart’s 150 million weekly customers in the United States, as well as enabling international customers to pay with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies while saving on currency exchange fees.
However, Walmart has been accepting Bitcoin payments since 2021—not in the United States, but in El Salvador. Since the Bukele administration’s adoption of the Bitcoin Ley, major companies have been accepting BTC payments. Despite recent amendments to the law, Walmart continues to do so there.
It is likely this initial experience in El Salvador that prompted Walmart to take the plunge on a larger scale. By bringing its payment infrastructure in-house, the company also seeks to reduce its reliance on third-party providers.
The Downsides of Crypto Payments via OnePay
While Walmart’s announcement marks a new milestone in Bitcoin’s adoption in the retail sector, the integration offered through OnePay is far from complete.
In practice, it is not possible to pay directly with an external Bitcoin/Lightning wallet. To use Bitcoin at Walmart, for now, customers must go through OnePay Cash, transfer their funds to the platform, and accept their automatic conversion to dollars at the time of payment.
This process therefore relies entirely on a trusted third party: Walmart itself, assisted by its partner Zerohash for the crypto infrastructure. Users no longer have direct control over their private keys, which is an essential condition for the financial sovereignty enabled by Bitcoin.
This is no longer a matter of self-custody, but rather a centralized custody model, similar to that of banks or traditional exchange platforms. In this sense, OnePay does not allow consumers to freely choose how they wish to spend their BTC.
The experience is certainly simplified, but at the cost of sacrificing Bitcoin’s fundamental principles: independence, the absence of intermediaries, and total control over funds.
