Walmart, the largest U.S. retail chain, and Amazon, the largest e-commerce company, are considering issuing their own stablecoins. This means that it will be used as an alternative to traditional payment systems such as credit cards.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the 13th (local time) that Walmart, Amazon, travel information company Expedia, and some airlines are considering issuing stablecoins.

Stablecoin refers to a virtual currency in which a value is fixed to a specific asset to minimize price volatility. It is mainly designed to have a fixed exchange value in dollars or euros. U.S. government bonds are widely used to secure their value.

The market is paying attention to whether the use of stablecoins by retail and e-commerce giants such as Walmart and Amazon will shrink existing bank and credit card payment systems.

Large retailers have long tried to reduce their reliance on credit card payment networks represented by Visa and Mastercard to reduce commission costs, but have not found a suitable alternative.

However, Amazon is conducting an internal review with weight on issuing its own stablecoins that can be used for online purchases, but discussions are still in the early stages.

These companies are considering not only issuing their own stablecoins, but also forming a consortium to use stablecoins issued by third parties for payment.

The Donald Trump administration is also trying to expand the stablecoin market by supporting legislation that lays the institutional foundation for stablecoins with Congress.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant recently said in a Senate Budget Subcommittee that "stablecoin legislation backed by U.S. government bonds will expand the use of dollars globally through stablecoins," expressing a positive stance on stablecoins.

Stablecoin's market capitalization was $237.3 billion as of the end of March. It has grown nearly twice as fast as a year ago. The combined market capitalization of Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) is about $200 billion, accounting for the majority.

Meanwhile, the number of companies introducing stablecoins in the United States is increasing.

Recently, Shopify has allowed some merchants to make payments through USDC, Circle's dollar-based stablecoin. PayPal supports payment and remittance functions through its own dollar-based stablecoin, PYUSD.

[New York correspondent Yoon Won-seop / Jonghwa Lee correspondent]