Key Points :
- Walmart-backed fintech OnePay will add Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) trading and custody services by the end of 2025, via a partnership with Zerohash
- Users will be able to hold, convert, and spend crypto assets inside the app, allowing conversion to fiat for purchases or payment of card balances
- This move positions OnePay as a U.S. “everything app” integrating finance, payments, credit, and now crypto
- Zerohash, which will power the crypto backend, recently raised US$104 million and is becoming a key infrastructure partner for fintechs
- Walmart’s retail reach (≈150 million weekly U.S. shoppers) offers a strong distribution channel for crypto adoption in everyday spending
- The launch fits broader financial and regulatory trends — other incumbents and banks are embedding crypto services (Morgan Stanley and Zerohash tie-up, etc.)
1. Strategic Vision: From Retail to Financial Superapp
OnePay is the fintech arm majority owned by Walmart (via venture funding), launched in 2021 with Ribbit Capital, that offers a suite of financial services: high-yield savings, debit/credit cards, peer-to-peer transfers, “buy now, pay later,” and more.
With the new crypto capabilities, OnePay is upping the ante, aiming to become a U.S. version of a “super app” analogous to WeChat in China — a unified platform for payments, credit, savings, transfers, telecom, and now crypto.
Integrating crypto is not just an add-on feature — it becomes part of the value chain: users may convert crypto to fiat within the app and immediately allocate it to purchases, bills, or card repayment. That tight coupling of crypto and real-world spending is a differentiator.
From Walmart’s perspective, this deepens the customer stickiness and opens higher-margin financial services beyond its core retail business.
2. Technical & Operational Partner: Zerohash
To power crypto trading, custody, and conversion, OnePay is partnering with Zerohash, a Chicago-based crypto infrastructure provider.
Zerohash offers backend services such as custody, settlement, and compliance tools (KYC/AML) that allow fintechs to plug in crypto without building from scratch.
Notably, Zerohash just raised $104 million in funding led by investors including Morgan Stanley and Interactive Brokers, reflecting confidence in its vision and enabling further capacity scaling to support fintech demand.
This is part of a broader trend: institutions and banks are increasingly collaborating with crypto infrastructure providers rather than going it solo — for example, Morgan Stanley will use Zerohash to offer crypto trading on E*Trade in 2026.
By outsourcing infrastructure to a specialized provider, OnePay reduces development risk, benefits from scaling efficiencies, and accelerates time to market.
3. User Experience & Crypto Flow
Here’s how the crypto experience is expected to look in OnePay:
- Buy / Hold / Trade: Users can buy Bitcoin and Ethereum inside the OnePay app.
- Custody: The app will provide custody (wallet) services meaning users can securely store crypto assets via Zerohash infrastructure.
- Conversion: Users can convert crypto to fiat (USD) inside the app.
- Spending: The fiat proceeds may be used for in-store purchases at Walmart or to settle card balances.
That flow collapses the typical crypto user journey (exchange → wallet → fiat off-ramp) into a unified in-app experience.
Because OnePay is already integrated into Walmart’s checkout ecosystem, a user’s crypto-to-fiat conversion may be tightly coupled with point-of-sale flows.
However, there are practical and regulatory challenges ahead:
- Ensuring compliance across U.S. states where crypto regulation is uneven
- Managing volatility (crypto-to-fiat conversion timing and rate risk)
- Gaining user trust in security, custody, and execution
4. Market & Competitive Landscape
OnePay is entering a landscape where digital asset adoption is becoming more mainstream and financial incumbents are integrating crypto:
- Competitor alignment: Platforms like PayPal, Venmo, Cash App already support crypto trading for U.S. users. OnePay is aligning its offering to compete.
- Institutional push: Morgan Stanley’s plan to offer crypto trading via E*Trade (using Zerohash) is a signal that mainstream finance is leaning into digital assets.
- Regulatory tailwinds: Recent U.S. regulatory signals (e.g. the GENIUS/CLARITY Acts draft) may bring more clarity for crypto service providers, which benefits players like OnePay.
- Retail leverage: Walmart’s enormous customer reach offers a sort of “on-ramp” to millions of crypto-curious users who may not access standalone exchanges. OnePay can become the gateway.
That said, success is not guaranteed: adoption depends on user education, trust, and UX. Also, some legacy financial firms may resist disintermediation of payments and banking.
5. Recent Developments & Added Insights
Since the initial reporting, a few notable updates and contextual developments help sharpen our view:
- OnePay has struck a renewed partnership with Synchrony Financial to reissue Walmart’s credit cards (a Walmart-only card and a general Mastercard), to be integrated in the OnePay app in Fall 2025. This move strengthens OnePay’s control over the credit/payment stack as crypto is added.
- Walmart’s partnership with Klarna (for installment loans at checkout via OnePay) was also announced earlier in 2025, adding more financial products to OnePay’s ecosystem
- The funding to Zerohash ($104 million) underscores investor confidence and gives robustness to the crypto infrastructure backbone supporting OnePay
- Institutional moves (e.g. Morgan Stanley + Zerohash) suggest that OnePay is part of a broader shift of legacy finance embracing crypto as a core offering rather than an adjunct
6. Opportunities & Risks
Opportunities:
- Mass adoption potential: By lowering friction, OnePay can onboard users who have never used a crypto exchange.
- Revenue synergies: Crypto trading and custody can generate fees, and increased engagement may boost usage of credit, payments, and other services.
- Brand trust: Walmart’s brand may help bring legitimacy to crypto for skeptical consumers.
- Network effects: As more transactions flow through OnePay, data and cross-product synergies arise (loans, credit scoring, loyalty).
Risks / Challenges:
- Regulatory uncertainty: U.S. states differ in crypto licensing regimes; federal oversight is evolving.
- Volatility & execution risk: Converting crypto into fiat quickly and at scale without slippage is nontrivial.
- Security & custody trust: Any breach or misstep could undermine user confidence.
- Competition & margin pressure: Other apps and incumbent finance firms may compress fees.
- User behavior inertia: Many users may treat crypto as speculative, not for spending — converting mindset is nontrivial.
7. Implications for Crypto Projects, Developers & Investors
- Blockchain projects may find new demand for payment rails or token-to-fiat conversion if OnePay opens APIs or becomes a conduit.
- Infrastructure providers (custody, settlement, compliance tools) are validated by this model; more fintechs may follow this B2B integration route.
- Token projects could push for integration in OnePay’s wallet offering (via token listings).
- Investors should watch how trading volume, user adoption, and monetization metrics evolve — this is a bellwether for retail crypto infrastructure adoption.
Conclusion
Walmart’s OnePay stepping into crypto via BTC/ETH trading and custody is more than a fintech feature update — it is a bold experiment in retail-driven mainstream adoption. Leveraging Walmart’s retail footprint and integrated checkout flows, OnePay is trying to collapse the barrier between crypto speculation and everyday spending.
By outsourcing technical infrastructure to Zerohash, they can focus on user experience, compliance, and retail integration. Coupled with moves in credit (Synchrony), buy-now-pay-later (Klarna), and payments, OnePay is shaping up to be a powerful financial superapp.
Yet success is far from guaranteed. Regulatory headwinds, technology execution, and user trust are stern tests. For crypto developers, infrastructure providers, and investors, this is an opportunity to observe how a major retail-backed financial ecosystem can shape demand and expectations in the broader digital asset economy.
If executed well, this could open a new on-ramp for millions of users to dip into crypto — and make digital assets part of everyday finance.
