Walmart will allow customers to pay with Litecoin

Walmart announced its major partnership with Litecoin. Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi and Julie Hyman break down the details.

Video Transcript

- A little bit of breaking news. Walmart is announcing it is going to be accepting a cryptocurrency. But it's not Bitcoin, it's Litecoin is what they have chosen. In a news release, they're saying they've entered a major partnership with Litecoin. And they're letting people pay with it. Kind of interesting here.

I'm still going through the release. And we're going to have more details on all of this in just a moment. But you can see the effect that it is having on Litecoin here this morning. That cryptocurrency is spiking. So we'll-- Oh, actually, Brian Sozzi, you want to weigh in on this? Perhaps, you've had more time to look at that release.

BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, I'm still reading this. So this will kick off October 1st for all of E-commerce stores for Walmart. But I think it's very significant. And why you're seeing part of the move here on Litecoin. Of course, Walmart accepting that is a big deal. But look who made the statement, it's Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. It's not some 12th tier executive at the company. So it is Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, I would say, putting his stamp on cryptocurrency. That it's OK, we acknowledge it, it's a real asset. And perhaps Walmart is accepting more than Litecoin in the years to come.

- So he's actually also answering my question in this statement. Or he's not, but the company is answering. Why Litecoin? It actually says the phrase, why Litecoin in the release here, Brian. And it answers, "Released in 2011, Litecoin is one of the oldest digital currencies in the crypto ecosystem, similar to Bitcoin in that it uses the same code as the latter and shares many similarities. However, they say Litecoin is cheaper and faster than Bitcoin." So interesting endorsement there of Litecoin. And again, that coin is getting a big.