The American company Western Union, which is one of the leaders in the international money transfer market, received a patent for a transaction protection system, which, among other things, provides for payments in cryptocurrency.
Moreover, Odilion Almeida, president of the Global Money Transfer payment system, said that Western Union is much better at handling cryptocurrency transfers than any blockchain startup.
It is conducting pilot trials of international payments using Ripple technology. This was stated by the manager of Western Union for global money transfers in the Asia-Pacific region, Molly Shea.
The company is actively interested in the field of cryptocurrencies, it previously collaborated with Ripple Labs to test how transfers using blockchain are faster and cheaper. Western Union could add bitcoin right now, but digital money has yet to gain widespread adoption as it needs government oversight and volatility, Almeida said.
The American company Western Union, which is one of the leaders in the international money transfer market, received a patent for a transaction protection system, which, among other things, provides for payments in cryptocurrency.
According to a document published by the US Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday, the patented technology “can be used to support and implement transfers of various types of currencies, including traditional and / or digital currencies, centralized and / or decentralized currencies, cryptocurrencies and any other medium of exchange ( credit, gift cards or certificates, etc.) “
The system offered by Western Union guarantees confirmation of transactions using biometric verification in the form of scanning of fingerprints, retina or user’s voice.
Digital currencies are a hot topic for WU, Almeida said. Previously, together with Ripple Labs, the company tested money transfers on the blockchain. The results of these experiments showed that payment transactions using technology are faster and more profitable.
A company spokesman said the main reason WU still hasn’t added bitcoin and other coins to its option is the small scale of the asset class’s proliferation. For the mass acceptance of cryptocurrencies, it is necessary to regulate this segment, as well as reduce their volatility.
Almeida said that WU is investing large sums of money in researching methods that will solve the problem of cryptocurrencies. “If virtual currencies will soon be widely used for exchanging funds at the international level, we will introduce tokens into our system,” he said.
Notably, the app lacks any mention of the Ripple cryptocurrency (XRP), which is said to be created specifically for the money transfer industry like Western Union. People who are interested to get into crypto from all over the world can only buy Bitcoin with Western Union with the help of P2P Exchanges, and not directly from Western Union office desk.
He added that the payment system is looking for a solution to the digital money problem and spends significant resources on it. In the summer, the head of Western Union, Hikmet Ersek, said that the company would not work with cryptocurrencies, since people do not need them, and central banks will never recognize Bitcoin. Hikmet also said that Bitcoin is not ready for worldwide use.
At the same time, Shea noted that with the introduction of blockchain technologies and even cryptocurrencies in international payments, fiat currency “will not go anywhere”, since the cryptocurrency industry is still in a development phase. The company plans to stay abreast of all technological innovations and their possible applications in real life.
Leave a Reply