- Western Union CEO has shown a support towards stablecoin exploration
- The pilot will test how stablecoins could reduce the dependency on traditional banking
- Western Union will be partnering with stablecoin-related firms
Western Union money transfer service is set to dive into stablecoin exploration. During its Q3 earnings call earlier over the weekend, Western Union CEO Devin McGranahan announced a pilot programme to test if stablecoins could simplify cross-border transactions.
Stablecoins are crypto assets backed by fiat currencies. Tether and McGranahan said the adoption of stablecoins could improve the remittance systems, particularly in countries challenged with inflation.
“We are actively testing stablecoin-enabled solutions in our treasury operations,” the platform chief noted. “We see significant opportunities for us to be able to move money faster with greater transparency and at lower cost without compromising compliance or customer trust.”
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The pilot will test how stablecoins could reduce the dependency on traditional banking systems and integrate blockchain in finance, which offers better data safety. The impact of stablecoins in settlement timelines and overall capital efficiency.
In addition, McGranahan acknowledged that the adoption of stablecoins is becoming a popular practice among institutional entities. Asset managers like BlackRock, GreyScale, and Galaxy are among financial mammoths now dabbling in crypto.
“We are seeing strong interest from potential parter — potential digital native partners using our infrastructure to bridge these worlds, particularly in regions where access to traditional banking is limited, but crypto adoption is growing,” he noted.
As part of the pilot, Western Union will be partnering with stablecoin-related firms to explore ways to allow customers to hold and transact in stablecoins. In the future, the platform plans to explore the digital wallet space.
Earlier this year also McGranahan had said that he views stablecoins as financial catalysts and not a threat.
For the third quarter, the platform reported revenue at $1.03 billion which was a decline of one percent year-over-year. Consumer money transfer transaction growth was down 2.5 percent in the quarter.
