Western Union to begin accepting Bitcoin (WSJ)

[wachtwoord]

I'm shorting WU instead.

I'm a WU shareholder. I think it will be very profitable for them to take business from BitInstant.

[Piper67]

I'm shorting WU instead.

I'm a WU shareholder. I think it will be very profitable for them to take business from BitInstant.

I agree. They already have a network of offices and locales all over the world. If all they do is charge 1% either way for transfers to and from BTC, they're looking at pretty significant revenues right there.

[the founder]

For the record,  it appears Wall Street likes their decision.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=wu&ql=1

Not hugely up,  but if the announcement was "garbage" in their eyes it would be down.

[Gordonium]

For the record,  it appears Wall Street likes their decision.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=wu&ql=1

Not hugely up,  but if the announcement was "garbage" in their eyes it would be down.

And that is what will finally break Bitcoin into mainstream. If there is money to be made, in time Wall Street will catch it. They are not stupid. Luckily we have just been even faster and because of that most of us will be filthy rich if we just play our cards right.

[Kazu]

http://mashable.com/2013/04/02/western-union-bitcoin/

Mashable is now reporting about it also.

What exactly does it mean for a payment transfer service like WU to "accept" bitcoins?
Are they going to be just another exchanger, but a uber big one?

[lebing]

http://mashable.com/2013/04/02/western-union-bitcoin/

Mashable is now reporting about it also.

What exactly does it mean for a payment transfer service like WU to "accept" bitcoins?
Are they going to be just another exchanger, but a uber big one?

yep, that seems to be what is happening.

[Kazu]

http://mashable.com/2013/04/02/western-union-bitcoin/

Mashable is now reporting about it also.

What exactly does it mean for a payment transfer service like WU to "accept" bitcoins?
Are they going to be just another exchanger, but a uber big one?

yep, that seems to be what is happening.

Dude, LOOOL.

Why oh why won't that $10k wire to MTGOX arrive already.

[Technomage]

This is very, very big news. It is for real and it means that Western Union is not stupid. They have very smart people in charge. They can benefit hugely by adding Bitcoin, and lose greatly if they don't. This is a brilliant move and takes Bitcoin to another level.

Obviously it's still in early stages but it makes too much sense for them to not do this.

[Zangelbert Bingledack]

The new CEO obviously seeks to sweep out the cobwebs...more like take a high-powered grenade launcher to the cobwebs.

So what about PayPal? They're as hampered by fiat as anyone. Market cap is higher, though. Maybe when BTC reaches $800 they will also decide not to fight the phantom force but to join it.

[moni3z]

From the press release it seems WU wants to create their own digital currency not accept bitcoin. I wouldn't use WU for anything they hold even $200 transfers these days

[Zangelbert Bingledack]

Doesn't sound like that to me. Plus that would be silly. Why ever not just use Bitcoin?

[Eri]

correct me if im wrong but they didnt mention bitcoin by name and they could mean dwolla or paypal etc. its far from what the topic says.

[moni3z]

Doesn't sound like that to me. Plus that would be silly. Why ever not just use Bitcoin?

The company is looking at the use of digital currencies like Bitcoin as well as the role

Corporations like cost certainty, there isn't with bitcoin. I see them going the Canadian Mint route and developing their own cryptocoin transfer service they proclaim as 'new and innovative' but it will come with heaps of identification documents and transfer limits.

[marcus_of_augustus]

This makes obvious sense for WU but i thought they would be too stuck in their ways with admin inertia to jump on this wagon. It must be the old pioneering spirit of the railroad coming out.

The BIG win that WU could achieve here is to use bitcoin network as their backbone for transferring payments around and do away with their legacy infrastructure. Their WU affiliates in every office all over the world now only needs a bitcoin enabled PC running to send/receive payments.

WU would become the p2p fiat exchange for the masses with all their installed infrastructure ... and oh yeah, if you want to take buy/sell bitcoin from local WU office can do that too.

These guys know exactly what needs to be done to make this happen on global scale tomorrow.

Good Luck to them ... they are one company that has stuck it out against the banking elite in the payments space for over a century.

[moni3z]

Bitcoin confirms too slow they'd have to use something like LTC or their own coin, because WU offers instant transfer pickup.

WU is also firmly the banking elite, and not against them. Try sending a few transfers in one week, watch them hold everything ,report you to IRS, report you to FBI, and seize your money. Their customer service is now a guy in the Philippines pushing a macro response button to everything, and it takes 60 days to get your money back if anything goes wrong with the transfer.

WU should die, btc/ltc should replace them and every other money transfer business that's been screwing us over in giant fees for last 3 decades.

[Minor Miner]

This makes obvious sense for WU but i thought they would be too stuck in their ways with admin inertia to jump on this wagon. It must be the old pioneering spirit of the railroad coming out.

The BIG win that WU could achieve here is to use bitcoin network as their backbone for transferring payments around and do away with their legacy infrastructure. Their WU affiliates in every office all over the world now only needs a bitcoin enabled PC running to send/receive payments.

WU would become the p2p fiat exchange for the masses with all their installed infrastructure ... and oh yeah, if you want to take buy/sell bitcoin from local WU office can do that too.

These guys know exactly what needs to be done to make this happen on global scale tomorrow.

Good Luck to them ... they are one company that has stuck it out against the banking elite in the payments space for over a century.

I do not think they are saints.  Look at their fees.   They basically rip off illegal immigrants who are sending money home to their families.

[gogxmagog]

It will be lovely for all of us if WU starts accepting BTC, but you will notice, the article states that they are "looking at alt-currencies like BTC" which could very well mean "they are watching BTC and taking notes and trying to figure out how to take all that BTC is and make their own version which gives them a cut right off the top of every transaction and is also easier to use and has been branded (by them) as being safer and more secure. even though I understand about the security of the BTC network, many potential users dont. yesterday my brother, who studies these forums almost as much as I do, said to me..."oh yeah, and the blockchain can be hacked and everyone loses their BTC..." to which I had to spend about an hour explaining how incorrect he was. The point is, people aint got the clear view of the full picture with BTC and some fat-cat corp. like WU or paypall or ebay will leap on these vagaries and create a version that people like better. sadly.

so I'm not sure if these type of stories are actually good news or more likely storm-clouds on the horizon. I wish I knew more about R&D for software etc. cuz I would be all over these problems, but unfortunately I am just an Unfrozen caveman, and your cryptocurrencies confuse and amaze me...

[Kazu]

I honestly can't believe that people here dislike Western Union.

Western Union was like, last generation's bitcoin. While it was not as completely revolutionary as Bitcoin has the potential to be, it was loads better than anything offered at the time and even now remains loads better than most other 'normal' ways of sending money, aside from things like Liberty Reserve that are entirely online.

Yes they charge high fees, but this is a capitalist society, they are supposed to charge as high a fee as they can get away with. At least they are honest, unike 'real banks.'

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Western Union became a sort of Bitcoin processor. There are lots of demand for instant payments, and while BTC transfers are fast, they aren't quite instant. Instant is needed for buying groceries in a timely manner, and people will probably pay some for that service. Its hard to buy BTC with USD. They could bridge that gap. If nothing else they lend their legitimacy to BTC and walk away with a few extra coins in their pocket for the favor.

I don't see anything particularly dishonest or ignoble with what they are doing. It makes business sense, and its perfectly fine. (Assuming they actually do what I think they plan to do.)

[marcus_of_augustus]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Western Union became a sort of Bitcoin processor. There are lots of demand for instant payments, and while BTC transfers are fast, they aren't quite instant. Instant is needed for buying groceries in a timely manner, and people will probably pay some for that service. Its hard to buy BTC with USD. They could bridge that gap. If nothing else they lend their legitimacy to BTC and walk away with a few extra coins in their pocket for the favor.

This.

Western Union are well-positioned to be BitInstant's worst nightmare if they move into this space.

BitInstant could look at expanding into the other side of the trade also to compete with them I suppose?

"Just going to pop down to the BitInstant office and pick up some money XXY is sending me."

[caveden]

This makes obvious sense for WU but i thought they would be too stuck in their ways with admin inertia to jump on this wagon. It must be the old pioneering spirit of the railroad coming out.

The BIG win that WU could achieve here is to use bitcoin network as their backbone for transferring payments around and do away with their legacy infrastructure. Their WU affiliates in every office all over the world now only needs a bitcoin enabled PC running to send/receive payments.

WU would become the p2p fiat exchange for the masses with all their installed infrastructure ... and oh yeah, if you want to take buy/sell bitcoin from local WU office can do that too.

Exactly what I thought. But it's indeed hard to believe such a large corporation would have the guts to restructure itself this way. Many internal branches would have to be cut. There's lots of politics inside these large corporations. The people in charge would have to be very bold and ready to make lots of people very unhappy.