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With these products, Western Union aims to “reshape how money moves worldwide,” it said in a Tuesday (Oct. 28) press release.
The company’s stablecoin, U.S. Dollar Payment Token (USDPT), will be built on Solana and issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, according to the release.
This collaboration will bring together Solana’s blockchain technology, Anchorage Digital Bank’s federally regulated stablecoin issuance platform and digital asset custody solutions, and Western Union’s global digital footprint, the release said.
Western Union expects to launch USDPT in the first half of 2026 and to enable users to access the stablecoin via partner exchanges, per the release.
“We are committed to leveraging emerging technologies to empower our customers and communities,” Western Union President and CEO Devin McGranahan said in the release. “As we evolve into the digital assets space, Western Union’s USDPT will allow us to own the economics linked to stablecoins.”
Western Union’s other newly announced project is the Digital Asset Network, which the company said will enable real-world utility for digital assets by being designed to “bridge the digital and fiat worlds.”
McGranahan described the Digital Asset Network as “a solution for the last mile of the crypto journey by partnering with wallets and wallet providers to provide customers with seamless access to cash off-ramps for digital assets by leveraging our global network.”
It was reported in August that Western Union was considering the launch of its own dollar-backed stablecoin as it was facing competition from a growing swath of cryptocurrency-centered money movement operations.
McGranahan told Bloomberg that the company was looking at non-U.S. markets, believing that a coin could act “almost like a savings account in U.S. dollars” for customers in other countries whose regulators permit the activity.
In an earnings report in July, Western Union said that it saw opportunities in the use of stablecoins for remittances and that it aimed to use the technology to reduce friction and float in cross-border transfers, provide on-ramps and off-ramps for crypto-fiat conversions, reduce its reliance on intermediaries, and add crypto capabilities to its digital wallet.
