Western Union announced a partnership with Coinbase
Official source http://www.coindesk.com
Speaking at the MoneyConf 2017 conference in Madrid, the technical director of the largest Western Union money transfer operator, David Thompson, spoke about the concerns of the company's clients about the relationship between crypto currency and money transfers.
"I do not have an answer to the question whether the digital currency will destroy money transfer business," he said. - Demand for crypto currency in many markets of developing countries Western Union is growing, but regulators are afraid of their anonymity, so they refuse to use them. "
Despite this, since the fall of 2016, Western Union has been cooperating with the Coinbase digital wallets platform - as part of the pilot, the company will appear in the Exchange web application. Thompson specified that the application is not intended for operations with digital currency, but for the transmission of fiat.
"Until the digital currencies are regulated and incorporated into the law, we will not include it in the platform. We are directly connected with the regulators, they will not allow us to accept the crypto currency, "he said.
Within the framework of the conference, Thompson also talked about other projects related to the blockbuster on which Western Union operates.
After the pilot project with Ripple failed (apparently, there was not a wide acceptance among banks), the team continued to explore possible options for using this technology.
According to Thompson, one of the main projects will be the standardization of banking integration on the basis of the blockbuster - now the Western Union application unites about 2 billion bank accounts.
Other options include the use of blockage in the project to implement KYC, in particular to reduce costs in this area, which reach about $ 240 billion a year and the use of blocking equipment for real-time calculations using "smart contracts".
"Can alternative methods of payment include digital currencies?" It can happen over time, as changes take place in regulation around the world, "Thomson said.
Saw that coming. They overcharge the S*** out of people to send $100 dollars to their family. One of my favorite reasons for crypto! Thanks for the share. One tip: It would be much easier to read if you broke your posts up into paragraphs. Much more user friendly to the eye!
That is some great news, a big payment service partnering with a crypto-currency service could bring new players to the crypto's
I don't understand their involvement. Cryptocurrency is looking to take the middleman out so how are they looking to survive with no fees? They'll drown as these currencies take a stronger hold in society. What is there strategy?
If you think of it from a different point of view, the majority of people who do not know about cryptocurrency and how it works. This is a great business plan for Western Union due to that many people are not willing to learn how cryptocurrency came about or how it works. Most people just want an already working program that they can have someone else manage. So even though cryptocurrency and the blockchain take out the middleman, there will still be a demand from people who will want that middleman there. Because that is all they know.
@nyozekii great response. I guess if their betting on it then they will win but the profit margin might not pan out for the effort. I could be wrong.
This crypto world is one interesting space!