Cross-border payment overlord》Western Union will launch a stablecoin financial card and will issue its own stablecoin USDPT next year
Western Union plans to launch a stablecoin financial card and predicts the issuance of its own USDPT in 2026. The leader in remittances is turning to blockchain settlement, and another traditional financial company is embracing blockchain.
(Preliminary summary: IMF warns: Stablecoins will erode the central bank’s monetary sovereignty like a "Trojan horse massacre")
(Background supplement: Financial Times: The U.S. banking industry warned of loopholes in the "Stable Coin Act", fearing an outflow of US$6.6 trillion in deposits)
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One of the world's oldest international remittance companies, Western Union, founded in 1851, announced that it will join hands with crypto wallet service providers Rain and Visa will launch a pre-loaded stablecoin financial card that allows recipients to hold crypto assets pegged to the U.S. dollar and not transfer them back to pesos until the card is swiped or withdrawn.
The U.S. dollar stable currency has become a channel for value preservation
At the UBS Global Technology and AI Conference, Chief Financial Officer Matthew Cagwin cited the local inflation rate in Argentina as an example, which once reached 200%. Western Union hopes to "turn remittances into anti-inflation savings accounts" so that users do not have to race against time, which is equivalent to insuring household assets in U.S. dollars.
For a long time, when migrant workers in emerging markets sent money home, their families often had to spend it immediately to avoid the depreciation of the local currency. If the services of this new card can be spread to various places in the future, it is expected to improve the purchasing power of local residents.
Self-built USDPT: double insurance of technology and supervision
More importantly, Western Union further announced that it will control the right to mint coins. According to the strategy disclosed by Finviz, the company plans to launch its own stable currency "USDPT" in the first half of 2026.
At the technical level, they chose the Solana blockchain with low handling fees and fast transaction speed to comply with the characteristics of "high-frequency, small-amount" remittances; at the compliance level, USDPT will be issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, which is subject to US federal supervision, to ensure compliance.
Eliminate dependence on agent banks
Traditional cross-border remittances must bypass multiple agent banks, each layer charging fees and delaying settlement. Cagwin stated publicly:
Our goal is to reduce reliance on the traditional banking system. Through blockchain settlement, we can reduce transaction times from days to seconds and potentially reduce settlement costs by 80%.
If the goal is achieved, the low cost can be converted into new profit margins. For Western Union, which relies on the speed of capital flow to make profits, it is a life-or-death battle to defend profits.
The last mile is taken over by offline outlets
In the past, encryption companies often struggled with physical cash entrances and exits, but Western Union has hundreds of thousands of locations around the world and can directly provide cash withdrawal services. According to analysis, local people can collect stablecoins online and then go to alley outlets to exchange currency. The seamless connection between online and offline greatly reduces the threshold for crypto implementation and makes "financial inclusion" visible and tangible.
Looking to the future, Western Union’s operation is a self-disassembly and reorganization at the traditional infrastructure level: while providing a new cash flow path for the hyperinflationary market, it also weakens traditional bank commissions. When remittances can cross the blockchain and reach the streets of South America in seconds, it is expected to lead the remittance industry into the next generation.
