On December 17, Western Union Global Money Transfer, a company specializing in providing money intermediary services, announced its readiness to work with cryptocurrencies to facilitate international payments. Odilon Almeida, president of Western Union Global Money Transfer, said that Western Union is ready to make maximum use of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in its operations, since it specializes in international payments and "knows well" what that is. "Cryptocurrencies could become yet another widely adopted option for enabling the exchange of value between people and countries, and if that happens, then we are ready to launch," Almeida said. However, he believes this will not happen right away, since the crypto industry is still in an early stage of development and faces a number of problems that are characteristic of new payment systems. These problems, in his words, are related to volatility, governance, and compliance.
Almeida expressed optimism that Western Union can contribute to overcoming these problems, as it "allocates significant resources to solving these three problems." Regarding the introduction of cryptocurrencies on its platform as a payment option, he said firmly: "Western Union today is ready to accept any currency. We already have 130 currencies. If one day we realize that 'the game is worth the candle,' then from a technology standpoint it will simply be just another currency." Western Union is experimenting with blockchainAlmeida also said that the technology's potential in the financial services sector is great, and that his company is investing in studying the applications most suitable for its platform. Almeida also confirmed that WU is conducting "constant tests" together with Ripple Labs, a company whose payments are based on blockchain.
