One of the most reputable global remittance players, Western Union, is undertaking a bold strategic initiative to modernize international money transfers by leveraging stablecoin potential.
Western Union, led by CEO Devin McGranahan, plans to start using stablecoins by the end of 2025 to improve money transfers, especially in Latin America and Africa.
McGranahan publicly discussed the company’s stablecoin strategy during a recent Bloomberg interview. He emphasized several key points of the company’s attitude to these crypto assets.
To begin with, Western Union sees stablecoins as a major opportunity to improve cross-border remittances, not a threat to its business model. Near-instant settlements with stablecoins can bypass the delays and costs of traditional banking systems. Their game-changing features will be especially useful for high-demand corridors like Latin America and Southeast Asia, where traditional fiat infrastructure is often weak.
McGranahan also noted that people still need to convert digital assets into local fiat to actually spend them in offline settings. That’s an area where Western Union, which deals with currency conversion, sees strong potential as well.
Therefore, the company plans to launch a stablecoin strategy by late 2025, mainly focusing on digital wallets and crypto on/off-ramps in regions like South America and Africa.
Thanks to regulatory support through the GENIUS Act recently adopted in the US, the planned rollout will have a stronger legal ground. That makes it easier for Western Union to use stablecoin digital dollars like USDC or USDT to power faster, cheaper international transfers.
This move could push the whole industry forward. Other financial companies and particularly remittance players may follow, adopting similar tech to stay competitive. It could also boost the use of blockchain networks like Ethereum, which are often used to process these kinds of transactions.
In the short term, the impact of similar initiatives might be most felt in underserved markets where people could get their money faster and pay less in fees. Over time, however, this emerging shift in remittance strategies could lead to more modern financial infrastructure worldwide, changing how global payments work at scale.
