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Cryptocurrencies continue to make their way into the world of finance and traditional payment systems. Despite some skeptical statements and bearish 2018, their adoption has increased dramatically to the point that many experts believe that encrypted use may eventually integrate or even compete directly with the traditional fiat system.
Western Union, one of the world's leading non-bank money transmission companies, recently published an article explaining its cautious but bullish view of the future of cryptocurrencies as a means of transmitting money worldwide.
"We are ready"
According to the article, Western Union Global Money Transfer chairman Odilon Almeida said the company is closely following the ecosystem, noting that in case of significant adoption, the company would be ready to launch a transfer service to money using this technology:
"Cryptocurrency could become another option for a way of exchanging goods between people and countries, if that happens, we would be ready for launch."
For Almeida, it is essential to separate the purpose of cryptocurrencies from their underlying technology. The Western Union team comments that while the study of blockchain technologies is interesting, its purpose would not be anything new since the company has sent P2P money electronically for several years.
There are two elements for cryptocurrency. The first is the digital currency itself and the second is the technology behind it: blockchain …
But Almeida adds that it would not be a great possibility for WU to add a cryptocurrency to its customer options at this time because we have already digitally transferred money for two decades.
There is a lot of hype around cryptocurrencies.
Fortunately, we have been transferring money digitally for almost two decades. Come closer #blockchain: https://t.co/Z1fzoH2ujV #WUFintech pic.twitter.com/DFUVYq9vOi
– Western Union (@WesternUnion) December 17, 2018
Western Union and Ripple: yes, but no
Western Union has already explored the use of blockchain to provide a better user experience. In statements to Bloomberg, Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek stated in a conference call that rumors of an association with Ripple Labs were true:
We are particularly looking at the optimization of the treatment and the optimization of working capital, also in the part related to the regulation, on the part of compliance related to the capacity of blockchain … And we do tests; we have some tests with Ripple.
However, apparently, the results were not 100% satisfactory. In his statements to Fortune, Ersek himself commented that he did not see a significant advantage in replacing the current system with one based on Ripple.
"We have always been criticized for the fact that Western Union is not economically efficient, blah blah blah, but we have not yet seen that part of the efficiency during our tests … The practical question is that it is still too expensive."
Until now it is uncertain whether in the near future Western Union has planned to enable the service, but with the increasing adoption of crypt users, it is increasingly possible for this idea to become a reality.
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