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Stablecoins Go Mainstream: Western Union’s Crypto Leap Signals Finance’s Tipping Point

Stablecoins Go Mainstream: Western Union’s Crypto Leap Signals Finance’s Tipping Point

Published:
2025-07-22 13:23:52
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Stablecoins infiltrate deeper into global finance as Western Union enters crypto

Western Union just handed crypto the ultimate mic drop moment—joining the stablecoin revolution as digital dollars eat traditional finance alive.


The remittance giant blinks

When a 170-year-old money transfer dinosaur starts bridging fiat and crypto rails, you know the game's changed. No more 'when'—only 'how fast.'


Stablecoins: Finance's new plumbing

Tether’s $100B market cap wasn’t a fluke. These digital IOUs now settle more value than some national payment systems—with none of the paperwork theatrics.


Wall Street’s FOMO playbook

Watch legacy finance 'strategically evaluate blockchain' while quietly hoarding stablecoin reserves. Spoiler: Their innovation budgets still fund PowerPoints about innovation.

The rails are being rebuilt. Question is—who’s left holding a ticket when the last fiat gatekeeper finally admits they’re running a toll booth on a deserted road?

How will Western Union adopt stablecoins?

Western Union has not yet disclosed which stablecoins or blockchains are in use, nor has it clarified whether the wallet product under consideration WOULD be proprietary or partner-based. However, competitive pressure is building. PayPal has integrated its PYUSD stablecoin into international payout rails, and MoneyGram already offers crypto off-ramps in more than 180 countries. Meanwhile, neo banks like Revolut and even tradFi banks are actively seeking licenses to issue their own U.S. dollar-pegged tokens, according to reports.

Stablecoins themselves have grown substantially in terms of institutional footprint. The aggregate value of Treasury-bill-backed reserves across leading stablecoins is now estimated at over $150 billion and could reach $2 trillion by 2028 under high-adoption scenarios. With Circle’s new Payments Network courting banks and payment service providers and Tether holding more T-bills than most nations, incumbent firms face increasing incentives to participate in crypto-native settlement layers rather than compete against them outright.

Western Union’s strategy also aligns with geopolitical currents. The TRUMP administration’s proposal to impose a remittance tax on U.S. outbound transfers, aimed at reducing cross-border capital flight, could inadvertently boost stablecoin adoption by pushing consumers toward cheaper, tax-neutral digital alternatives. Critics argue that such policy shifts will amplify demand for decentralized tools rather than curb them.

Pilot and US relevance

While the firm has not confirmed timelines for a public rollout, McGranahan hinted at corridor-specific metrics as key indicators of success. These include FX spread reduction, time-to-cash statistics, and the per-transaction economics relative to legacy settlement via the WUNet infrastructure. Any potential expansion of the program or wallet launch may be detailed in Western Union’s next earnings call, scheduled for October 2025.

The pilots reflect a broader industry transition, as payment giants previously hesitant to embrace blockchain now begin to test on-chain tools in live environments. Whether Western Union will seek a banking charter to issue its own stablecoin or instead rely on existing issuers remains unresolved.

However, Western Union may be more comparable to Tether than US-based stablecoins. Both generate most of their volume outside the United States, targeting people in emerging-market corridors who turn to dollar-linked transfers because local banking rails or physical USD are hard to access.

In fact, Western Union’s latest 10-K shows that about 65 % of its 2023 revenue ($2.85 billion of US $4.36 billion) was earned abroad, while market-tracker data indicates that U.S. exchanges see only ~$3 billion of the more than US $30 billion in daily USDT trades, meaning roughly 90 % of Tether volume is executed on offshore venues like Binance, OKX and Bybit.

|Square

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