Why Doesn’t Western Union or Moneygram Use Bitcoin?
This essay is an updated chapter from Luis Buenaventura’s Reinventing Remittances with Bitcoin, available for free in e-book and print form now. One of the most common questions asked at industry conferences is why Western Union or Moneygram don’t just use Bitcoin themselves. If they did, they could eliminate the potential threat posed by the young Bitcoin remittance start-ups who are out there trying to eat their lunch. Theoretically, Western Union could just throw R&D resources at the problem and come up with a large-scale version of what companies like Bitspark in Hong Kong, Payphil....
Related News
The Republic of El Salvador has made many headlines this week as the country adopted bitcoin as legal tender on Tuesday and became the first-known nation-state to purchase the leading crypto asset. A recent report details that remittance providers like Moneygram and Western Union could lose up to $400 million annually if the Chivo wallet is used more. Furthermore, the creator of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee has written an opinion piece about why Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele announced the bitcoin tender law at the Miami bitcoin conference.
Chivo Wallet Could Hurt Remittance....
Bitcoin remittance startup Rebit.ph partners with a Japanese bitcoin exchange to facilitate fund transfer between two countries. Bitcoin’s potential to transform foreign remittance industry is very well known. It is also one of the services rendered by multiple cryptocurrency startups across the world. The conventional remittance system includes either the Western Union or MoneyGram. While they have a decent reach across the world, its usage by people to send money overseas is seen as a necessity in the absence of other alternatives. With the introduction of bitcoin and its growing....
Alibaba's Ant Financial Services has acquired MoneyGram. At the same time, it explores blockchain tech for Alipay. Alibaba Group Holding Limited, the Chinese e-commerce and financial services conglomerate has made a significant move into the remittance industry. The company’s subsidiary Ant Financial Services Group has acquired MoneyGram International Inc. for $880 million. The acquisition of MoneyGram not only offers Ant Financial a stronger foothold in the remittance sector but also gives it a unique opportunity to expand its services across the globe. MoneyGram and its counterpart the....
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....
Just as old technologies give way to newer ones, so must be the case for the financial industry. According to bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert, payment services like Western Union and MoneyGram could soon see their demise as the digital currency industry grows. This phenomenon has been witnessed in the music industry, which saw the closure of Tower Records, and the photography world, wherein the shift to digital format led to the bankruptcy of film company Kodak. Silbert predicts that it will also be a "slow death" for traditional payment companies, as mainstream acceptance of bitcoin grows.....