Western Union hints at the use of cryptocurrency in its services.

[Paha87]

American financial service Western Union is finally ready for cryptocurrency. In a video interview with Reuters Plus, Western Union President Odilon Almeida said that " the company is evaluating the use of cryptocurrency," adding that they are also exploring how the company can improve service delivery through blockchain technology.

Western Union is interested in adopting cryptocurrencies as an option for Fiat currency exchange. However, Almeida said that " the movement will only see the light of day if it is connected to a global audience."

Almeida also touched upon some restrictions on the use of cryptocurrencies and why they are not widely used. He listed volatility, risk management, and compliance as three stumbling blocks to its growth. While stablecoins are actively working to solve the problem of volatility on cryptocurrencies, Almeida noticed:

Western Union is ready to accept any currency today. We are already working with 130 currencies. If one day we feel that the introduction of cryptocurrencies on our platform is the right strategy, and that from a technological point of view it is just another currency. I think cryptocurrency can be another option for exchanging currencies or assets around the world between people and businesses. If that happens, we'll be ready to launch.

Recall that Western Union conducted a test of the Ripple blockchain in June 2018, where the company's CEO Hikmet Ersek claimed that global transactions of funds did not receive any cost savings from the technology that could serve as the basis for the integration of Ripple solutions into the company's system.

"We've always been criticized for Western Union not being cost-effective, blah blah blah, but we haven't seen that part of efficiency during our tests yet. From a practical point of view, it is still too expensive," Ersek said in an interview with Fortune.

Ripple's senior Vice President of product Ashish Birla, in turn, noted that"it was impossible for Western Union to see any benefits in cost savings after conducting ten transactions using XRP."

In a recent interview, Almeida said he is still optimistic about the prospects of using Ripple for cross-border payments. "Our tests with Ripple are sent to the same field. It's learning. We look at blockchain technology and really see if it can make us more efficient," he explained in the video.

Link to the source of information (Russian) - https://altstake.io/news/western-union-namekaet-na-ispolyzovanie-kriptovalyuty-v-svoih-servisah

[PRIBO247]

They should stop hinting and come right out to say if they will start using cryptocurrency in their services or not. Personally, I think it will be awesome if they do.