Morgan Creek Digital founder Anthony Pompliano suggested that the major U.S. retailer, Kroger, should use the Lightning Network in its stores since the company decided to stop accepting Visa at some of its locations. Pompliano tweeted on March 3 that negotiations have already begun.
On Friday, March 1, Kroger officially announced that its Smith’s Food & Drug stores will no longer accept Visa cards starting Apr. 3 thanks to the high fees that the company imposes on major retailers. “Visa has been misusing its position and charging retailers excessive fees for a long time,” Kroger’s chief financial officer Mike Schlotman said.
Shortly after the decision was announced, Pompliano reached out for contacts at Kroger through Twitter, claiming that the retailer could use the Lightning Network, as Cointelegraph reports, instead of Visa. “The Morgan Creek Digital team will fly to meet them [Kroger team] and get them hooked up with the Lightning Network nationwide,” he said.
One Twitter user, whose profile says he works at Kroger Digital as a product manager, contact Pompliano to discuss the details. According to the Morgan Creek Digital founder, the first call with the Kroger team, which he referred to as “world-class and forward thinking,” already happened. “Looks like things are progressing. Stay tuned,” Pompliano added in the tweet.
Reuters reported earlier that Smith’s is not the first of Kroger’s chains to stop accepting Visa cards. Foods Co. supermarkets in California stopped accepting the card in August 2018. These two chains combined account for nearly 142 supermarkets and 108 fuel center locations across seven states in the United States.