Last week, earnings managed to steal the front and center show. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, PayPal, Starbucks and MoneyGram all dropped their latest round of performance data on the markets — and investors and analysts were exuberant and/or terrified, depending on how closely those results conformed to what they thought was going to happen.
But off the trading floors, the news cycle carried its own pace as Walmart made cash cheaper to send, bitcoin and the blockchain got a series of thumbs down from bankers around the world and startups started feeling the burn.
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Walmart2Walmart Lowers Fees – Gets More Digital
There are many ways to celebrate a third anniversary — Walmart, being Walmart, decided lowering prices is a good way to go.
Starting last week, fees for sending money over the Walmart2Walmart network have decreased. Now a money transfer of under $50 will cost $4, a transfer between $50 and $1,000 will cost $8, and transfers between $1,000 and $2,500 will cost $16.
That saves consumers anywhere from 20 to 90 percent, depending on where the consumer is wiring funds from in the United States. Kirsty Ward, vice president, Walmart Services, notes that most of its rivals peg prices to where consumers are, meaning that someone in New York sending $1,000 with one of Walmart’s key competitors will pay a lot more than someone sending that same amount of money from Peoria. With Walmart, both customers will pay the same — and still be paying less than they would be paying with anyone else.
“We don’t see why it should be different whether you are sending money from San Francisco or New York or Northwest Arkansas. Location doesn’t change the process, so customers shouldn’t be charged differently,” Ward told Karen Webster in an interview.
Walmart2Walmart has also made a digital upgrade with a bit of help from American Express.
Customers using the American Express’ Bluebird prepaid checking alternative starting next month (May) will also be able to use the Bluebird app to send money digitally for a cash pickup at Walmart store locations — under the same free structure.
The receiver picking up the funds doesn’t need to have a Bluebird account.
“This is about trying to eliminate those paper forms and 20-foot-long paper receipts,” Ward noted. “That’s why we have partnered with Amex and we’ve incorporated money transfers into the Bluebird account.”
The Walmart2Walmart network allows users to send and receive cash at 4,000 stores in the U.S.
The Bank/Blockchain Break-Ups
It’s been a rough week for the relationship between banks, bitcoin and the blockchain.
Three major blockchain exchanges — Bitfinex, OKCoin and BTC-e — have all separately reported that they’ve been unable to process transactions in dollars as global banks are pulling out of high risk areas.
The issue comes when exchange users wish to change bitcoin into regular currency, at which point the exchanges leverage relationships with local banks that themselves rely on larger “correspondent banks” to facilitate wire transfers and process transactions that involve foreign currencies.
As bitcoin has…