Western Union is stepping into the stablecoin space given that these digital assets have, in recent years, emerged as quicker, faster, and cheaper means of facilitating cross-border transactions. The money transfer platform has teamed up with stablecoin infrastructure firm Crossmint to announce the USDPT stablecoin, pegged to the US dollar.
Crossmint announced the launch of the USDPT on Wednesday saying that the stablecoin will be minted on Solana, which already supports other major stablecoins including Circle’s USDC, Tether’s USDT, and PayPal’s PYUSD.
The development comes around four months after Western Union had first announced its plans to launch the stablecoin in October last year. At the time, the Denver, U.S.-headquartered company had announced its Digital Asset Network (DAN) designed to let users convert digital dollars into local fiats.
“Western Union’s Digital Asset Network is designed to link digital value with our global cash and payout ecosystem,” said Malcolm Clarke, Western Union’s Vice President of Digital Assets.
Crossmint founder Rodrigo Fernández Touza, commenting on the development said, stablecoins are already building the foundation for new age global treasury movement, which makes it natural for platforms like Western Union to explore.
“Alongside USDPT, they are launching the Digital Asset Network, which will allow users to offramp stablecoins into physical cash through more than 360,000 Western Union retail locations worldwide,” Crossmint posted through its official handle on X.
For now, the exact timeline of USDPT’s rollout remains unclarified.
Crossmint has committed to stitch its stablecoin infrastructure into Western Union’s DAN network. Collectively, the duo claim to reach 200 countries globally.
Stablecoins have been given a fresh boostt by U.S. President Donald Trump who last year signed the GENIUS Act into law. This legislation lays down the dos and don’ts for stablecoin firms — bringing clarity to the stablecoin tokenomics.
As per DeFi Llama, the total stablecoin market cap as of Wednesday stands at $310.9 billion.