5 days ago
The 175-year-old money-transfer steadfast besides plans to contented a stablecoin-linked paper for payments and cash-out options from crypto to section currencies, CEO Devin McGranahan said.
Apr 27, 2026, 8:35 p.m.
Western Union (WU) is preparing to rotation retired a stablecoin strategy that could reshape however the 175-year-old money-transfer institution settles payments crossed its planetary network.
CEO Devin McGranahan said connected the company's first-quarter net telephone that Western Union’s U.S. dollar stablecoin (USDPT) is successful the last stages of readiness and is expected to motorboat adjacent month. The steadfast announced successful October that the integer dollar volition tally connected Solana (SOL) and volition beryllium issued with federally chartered crypto slope Anchorage Digital.
Western Union plans to usage the stablecoin archetypal arsenic an alternate to the interbank colony rails it uses contiguous to determination wealth betwixt the institution and its agents.
"We are not primitively launching [USDPT] arsenic consumer-facing," McGranahan said. "We are launching it arsenic an alternate to the interbank SWIFT colony web that we usage today."
That matters, helium said, due to the fact that Western Union’s concern inactive depends connected bequest banking systems that settee lone connected concern days and tin instrumentality 2 oregon 3 days successful immoderate markets. Stablecoins could let the institution to settee with partners successful existent time, including implicit weekends and holidays, portion reducing superior tied up successful the system, helium added.
The 2nd portion of the company's strategy is the Digital Asset Network (DAN), which lets crypto wallet companies connection Western Union arsenic a cash-out option. Through that network, wallet users volition beryllium capable to person integer assets into section currency done Western Union’s retail footprint, McGranahan said.
The institution said its spouse pipeline represents tens of millions of crypto wallets globally.
Western Union besides plans to motorboat a Stable Card, expected aboriginal this year. It volition fto customers clasp funds successful stablecoins and walk done paper networks. McGranahan said the paper could beryllium utile successful inflation-sensitive markets wherever customers privation entree to U.S. dollar-denominated worth with mundane spending utility.
"We expect to statesman rolling this retired crossed dozens of markets with an archetypal question targeted for aboriginal this year," helium said.
Western Union's stablecoin propulsion comes arsenic its halfway remittance concern faces pressure, with rival fintechs and crypto payments firms progressively utilizing blockchain tech for cross-border payments. MoneyGram, for example, is looking to Circle’s USDC stablecoin, portion Stripe launched its ain stablecoin infrastructure with a payments-focused concatenation Tempo.
Read more: DoorDash is bringing stablecoin payments to masses with Stripe-backed blockchain
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