First Publicly Traded Company Targets Western Union with Bitcoin
MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI.qb) announced on July 24 plans to enter the lucrative international remittance market using bitcoin. MJMI is one of the first publicly traded companies to shift focus exclusively to the bitcoin and cryptocurrency space and will be the first such company to offer international money transfer. According to figures from the World Bank, money worth in excess of US$580 billion was sent internationally last year, and this is expected to rise to over US$608 billion in 2015. With estimated transaction fees averaging nearly 8%, this equates to an almost US$50....
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In the world of cash-transfers, few other companies come to mind as instantaneously as Western Union. If you’ve walked in a convenience store anywhere between the west and east coast of the United States, you’ve probably seen a banner for Western Union. The remittance provider is currently facing a preliminary antitrust inquiry as the EU examines allegations of Western Union intentionally driving rivals out of business. Allegedly, Western Union is giving their retail outlet partners contracts with exclusivity contracts in them which don’t allow other cash-transfer services to operate....
If you've been scanning the Bitcoin subreddit today, you'll notice Western Union - the world-famous money remittance company - is taking a fair bit of flak from digital currency enthusiasts for an event that took place on Facebook not terribly long ago. In short, a user of the social network, Dave Aiello, mocked a Western Union advertisement in attempts to highlight the benefits of bitcoin. In a thread created Monday on Reddit, Aiello says he was met with a copyright claim from the company for the following: Needless to say, Aiello's post on Reddit was met with disappointment and anger.....
Western Union Chief Information Officer John "David" Thompson was interviewed by Coindesk this week and made some very revealing comments about Bitcoin, and its future in global monetary transfer. Many know Western Union as the world's largest personal monetary transfer corporation, founded way back in 1851. Operating in 220 countries worldwide, it generated almost $800M last year in net income, which is down over 20% from 2012. I wonder why it is down over $200M all of the sudden? Also read: Digital Currency Advocate: What Western Union CEO Is Missing. Western Union CIO: Bitcoin doesn't....
As new U.S. government measures that impose restrictions on remittances to Cuba becomes effective after November 22, Western Union, which has been operating in the island nation since 1999, will close shop. The new rule, which was published on October 27, gave Western Union 30 days to implement new restrictions. The new rule is likely to increase the appeal of crypto assets as Cubans are now expected to find a suitable alternative in a very short space of time. Targeted Sanctions At the time of the initial U.S. government announcement, the global remittances giant had promised to find a....
In what could probably be called the surprise of the century, financial services company Western Union says Bitcoin just isn't quite ready for international money transfers - Western Union's big business. A huge surprise, indeed. It all went down at a Western Union conference that took place recently. "We're a long, long way from sending momma in Mexico $240 each month or a Somali family in a refugee camp $200 each month in bitcoin that is held in a wallet for conversion to local fiat currency and spending as needed," said MSB Compliance president Jay Postma. "The infrastructure and market....