Is Western Union Really Ready For XRP?

A new video from Western Union has recently been released which explains that they are getting ready to work with cryptocurrencies. Well, they say they're ready but as Coin Speaker put it “the video does seem to go on to outline how they actually aren’t ready and don’t fully understand crypto.”

Earlier this week, the President of Western Union Global Money Transfer, Odilon Almeida revealed that his company was “fully prepared” to work with the crypto space in order to secure worldwide payments. You can see the official Twitter page of the Union with the video embedded tweet below:

There's a lot of hype around cryptocurrencies.

Good thing we've been transferring money digitally for nearly two decades. Bring on the #blockchain: https://t.co/Z1fzoH2ujV #WUFintech pic.twitter.com/DFUVYq9vOi

— Western Union (@WesternUnion) December 17, 2018

The President of the Union said that they are ready to make the most of the blockchain and the technology behind crypto technology for its work as it specialises in international payments and is well aware of what it is. Almeida said, “cryptocurrencies can be another widespread option to ensure the exchange of values between people and countries, and if this happens, we are ready for the launch.”

Nevertheless, Almeida is still a believer that this won’t be a quick process since the crypto space is still in its early days and that there are many issues which still need to be looked at including volatility, management, compliance and more. The President of Western Union has shown his optimism regarding the fact that Western Union can contribute to overcoming of these issues as “allocates significant resources to solve these three problems.”

When introducing cryptocurrency to the platform as a payment method, Almeida stated:

“Western union today is ready to accept any currency. we already have 130 currencies. if one day we realize that “the game is worth the candle,” then, from technology the point of view, this will be just another currency.”

Blockchain

Talking about blockchain, Almeida says, “there are two elements to the cryptocurrency. The first one is the digital currency itself and the second one is the technology behind it: blockchain.”

With blockchain allowing for the exchanging of information and storing about trades in an efficient and effective way. There are several potential applications for the financial services sector and the Union is looking to find those that best meet our platform. Western Union partnering with Ripple recently to test whether sending payments by blockchain was quicker and less expensive is a good example.

What are your thoughts? Let us know what you think down below in the comments!