Walmart is looking to get in on the action with cryptocurrencies as the United States’ largest private employer has initiated a search on Monday for a digital currency and cryptocurrency product lead.
“As an expert in Digital Currencies/ Cryptocurrency and Blockchain related technologies, you will drive the vision for the product and capabilities roadmap,” the job posting reads. “You will provide the leadership to identify technology and customer trends and the investments needed to build on those trends.”
The senior director will be based out of Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Candidates must have a bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, or a related field and seven years of experience in merger and acquisitions, investment banking, business development or a related area.
In addition, they must have at least 10 years of experience in product or program management, technology commercialization and/or technology, experience with the cryptocurrency ecosystem and related technologies and experience in developing strategy and the execution roadmap.
Walmart’s preferred qualifications for candidates in the role include a master’s degree or higher in business, engineering, or a related field, supervisory experience leading corporate development teams, experience leading cross-functional teams, experience leading post-merger management activities involving acquisitions and divestitures and project management experience.
The retailer’s move comes days after its competitor Amazon announced its own search for a cryptocurrency lead as the e-commerce giant reportedly looks to begin accepting digital currencies as payments for its products “as soon as possible”.
The company previously filed a patent application two years ago on a price stable cryptocurrency similar to Facebook-backed Diem.
In addition, Walmart has been building a new fintech platform known as Hazel, which is expected to provide a wide range of services to consumers including mobile payments and banking transfers, processing credit, debit, and prepaid card transactions and “virtual currency transaction processing.” Hazel by Walmart will also offer financial planning services, portfolio analysis, tax preparation, insurance services and credit repair and restoration.
According to real-time price tracking by Coindesk, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is trading around $46,000 per coin as of Monday morning, while rivals Ethereum and Dogecoin are trading at around $3,200 per coin and 32 cents per coin, respectively.
