chepicap.com
Western Union recently released a short video in which it explains that it is ready to begin working with cryptocurrencies. That being said, the video does seem to go on to outline how they actually aren't ready and don't fully understand crypto.
Western Union tweeted a snippet of the video and the notion "Bring on the blockchain."
There's a lot of hype around cryptocurrencies.
— Western Union (@WesternUnion) December 17, 2018
Good thing we've been transferring money digitally for nearly two decades. Bring on the #blockchain: https://t.co/Z1fzoH2ujV #WUFintech pic.twitter.com/DFUVYq9vOi
The full video is also available on YouTube:
The video primarily has quotes from the President of Western Union Global Money Transfer, Odilon Almeida. He begins by saying how important blockchain is going to be in the coming years and how Western Union is looking into new uses for it. He then says a good digital currency needs to solve for volatility, governance and compliance. He praises stablecoins for being pegged to fiat to solve volatility, but then moves on and is mute about the governance/compliance aspect.
Almeida then says WU is uniquely ready for digital currencies because they have "already done it decades ago." He says whenever you send money with WU, they use a unique code that is actually worth the value of your money, and this is essentially the same. He does not address the fact that their service in no way compares to the speed, low cost and immutability of a blockchain.
He ends on reiterating that WU is ready because they already use 130 different global currencies and that crypto is "just another currency."
Some on twitter responded by pointing out that this video doesn't really instill confidence that WU is ready for crypto or even understands it.
You're not transferring money, you're digitally updating a ledger on a sender receiver side so a prefunded account can transfer local Fiat. Still don't understand blockchain by now?
— jas (@a1mk3) December 17, 2018
FYI ystrday I went to one of ur branches in PayaLebar, Singapore to transfer $75 to Cambodia & u asked for $25 fee.
— Zerpillion (@Zerpillion) December 18, 2018
U're in no position to brag abt digital transfers.
Actions speak louder than words.
Lets talk when u decided to drop your massive ego and see the value in #XRP
So you’re saying then, that while being way ahead on the digital transfer curve, you’ve been absolutely gutting us for twenty years with extortionate fees? Thanks.
— ZIGXRP 🙋♂️👩👦👨👩👧👩👩👧👧 (@ZIGXRP) December 18, 2018
As of now twitter doesn't seem too confident in Western Union's claims. However only time will tell, so who knows? Maybe this time next month we'll all be using WU to send Bitcoin! It's just "one more currency," right?