Why Doesn’t Western Union or Moneygram Use Bitcoin?

[shield132]

We have a chanse to see that western union maybe will accept bitcoin because they are getting destroyed by bitcoin in switzerland. There was opened thread about that. Many electronic ticket machine accepts bitcoin and  people have been using it for remittance purposes instead of Western Union.
More information and discussion can be found here if you don't know this thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1770481.0

[1713951798]

1713951798

[1713951798]

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[South Park]

We have a chanse to see that western union maybe will accept bitcoin because they are getting destroyed by bitcoin in switzerland. There was opened thread about that. Many electronic ticket machine accepts bitcoin and  people have been using it for remittance purposes instead of Western Union.
More information and discussion can be found here if you don't know this thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1770481.0

Bitcoin is crushing them in Switzerland, But how western union is going to make money out of it? I don't see a clear business plan to adopt bitcoin and somehow make money out of it, if they charge an additional fee people will just use bitcoin directly without the added fee of western union.

[Schuyler]

The short answer is that Western Union doesn’t need Bitcoin in its current infantile state. Conversely, if and when Bitcoin reaches adulthood the world would no longer need Western Union.
I really liked the above statement and this is one of the fewest articles that I really enjoyed reading on cointelegraph[1].

[1] https://cointelegraph.com/news/why-doesnt-western-union-or-moneygram-use-bitcoin#

The Western Union and MoneyGram are also good in service especially to send or receive money.There can be no bitcoin in money transfers because they differ by system and policy. Bitcoin doesn't  need western union and money gram,western union doesn't  need bitcoin. What I like in bitcoin is fast transaction and low fees, unlike in western union and money gram, they both have higher fees. Bitcoin for me is a barrier to money transfers when it became legal throughout the world because  more of customers in western union and money gram can transfer to use bitcoin.

[Dudeperfect]

Absolutely agree, if they start using bitcoin then people would not use western union or similar services as bitcoin doesn't need any third party. Alternatively, it will also affect their revenue model in a negative way. I see good future of the companies like bitpay so we can safely say that bitpay is a new PayPal or Western union.

[audaciousbeing]

I actually dont expect them to accept bitcoin, because the moment that is implemented, then the fees they charged as a form of revenue will drop drastically and aside from that, for their own justification, their business is really regulated and they even exist within the confines of the law of the particular country which they are operating. Any country that does not accept bitcoin as a form of legal tender then western Union is under such rule not to accept so far its still ready to run business in that country.

[bravehearth0319]

The short answer is that Western Union doesn’t need Bitcoin in its current infantile state. Conversely, if and when Bitcoin reaches adulthood the world would no longer need Western Union.
I really liked the above statement and this is one of the fewest articles that I really enjoyed reading on cointelegraph[1].

[1] https://cointelegraph.com/news/why-doesnt-western-union-or-moneygram-use-bitcoin#

It is because Moneygram and Western Union are both regulated industry. While bitcoin is not, when it comes to the services in terms of payment bitcoin was really more advantage to them, because it fast transactions, the fee of charge is very minimal, very much secured and more safest for me.

[1Referee]

Absolutely agree, if they start using bitcoin then people would not use western union or similar services as bitcoin doesn't need any third party. Alternatively, it will also affect their revenue model in a negative way. I see good future of the companies like bitpay so we can safely say that bitpay is a new PayPal or Western union.

WU and MG could very well incorporate Bitcoin without their profits suffering too much. It's all about the fees that they generate when it comes to their core business model. If Bitcoin turns out to be far more popular than the regular activities of both of these services, then they will still benefit as they scoop up the fees from the increased Bitcoin usage. One way or another, if they generate fees and manage to realize growth, then it doesn't matter where it comes from.

[deisik]

We have a chanse to see that western union maybe will accept bitcoin because they are getting destroyed by bitcoin in switzerland. There was opened thread about that. Many electronic ticket machine accepts bitcoin and  people have been using it for remittance purposes instead of Western Union.
More information and discussion can be found here if you don't know this thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1770481.0

Bitcoin is crushing them in Switzerland, But how western union is going to make money out of it? I don't see a clear business plan to adopt bitcoin and somehow make money out of it, if they charge an additional fee people will just use bitcoin directly without the added fee of western union

Basically, they already have everything in place

And unlike other posters who think that Bitcoin is of no use to these remittance services altogether, I'm more inclined to think that they could make a good use of it after all. With Bitcoin price rising and transaction fees spiking, they could use their existing infrastructure for sending as well as receiving bitcoins. In fact, they don't need to sell or receive anything at all since they could work just like web wallets work (I refer to off-chain transactions here), but unlike the latter, they have almost ubiquitous physical presence (outlets) in the world (which they could use as their competitive advantage)

[Vaccinus]

it doesn't make sense to me that competitors use bitcoin, they are centralized service running with fiat money they will never use bitcoin, pretty much liek any government will never make bitcoin a currency for their country, and also by using bitcoin they would make less in fee because their fee are higher than bitcoin

[deisik]

it doesn't make sense to me that competitors use bitcoin, they are centralized service running with fiat money they will never use bitcoin, pretty much liek any government will never make bitcoin a currency for their country, and also by using bitcoin they would make less in fee because their fee are higher than bitcoin

I think it doesn't really matter if some service is centralized or not. Any economic entity is centralized by definition and operating like a whole to an outside observer. In this sense, Coinbase and Western Union are not particularly different. I'd rather say they are as centralized as it gets. They might not be going to use Bitcoin any time soon but mostly because it is not very usable overall (at larger scales). If we are to remain honest, Bitcoin still remains pretty marginal. But with changes made to it and improving it, things may change fast

After all, all these companies are going for profits in the first place, and that's what matters in the end

[Vaskiy]

Western Union and MoneyGram were the competing services that are available long back itself. It was found popular among people who need someone to take care of their transaction. They are just an intermediary service offering group. Recently due to the growth of digital currency Switzerland land has closed MoneyGram. Soon they might Start using bitcoin or their own coin to grow further.

[sunsilk]

Because these two types of remittance will certainly break their own business if they are going to accept bitcoin.

And if ever they will accept bitcoin, it means that they surrendered to bitcoin. Just look at PayPal, though they are aware about bitcoin's potential and success.

They still don't adopt it.

[deisik]

Because these two types of remittance will certainly break their own business if they are going to accept bitcoin.

And if ever they will accept bitcoin, it means that they surrendered to bitcoin. Just look at PayPal, though they are aware about bitcoin's potential and success.

They still don't adopt it

There may be plenty of reasons why they don't accept or adopt Bitcoin

I have already mentioned it before but it seems to be worth mentioning it again. PayPal just like other remittance companies such as Western Union or MoneyGram is working in many countries across the world, but Bitcoin regulation differs between countries dramatically. In some countries it is perfectly legal and welcome (say, in Switzerland, known for their love toward hard currencies) while in others it is outright prohibited (say, in Iceland), so these services may run into serious legal issues when sending bitcoins to the latter countries. It is like weed in the US, in some states like Washington it is legal, in some others like Indiana it is illegal

[Idrisu]

Western union money transfer and moneygram will ever be against bitcoin and others crypto currencies as they see it as they major competitor. When bitcoin is fully grown western union Money transfer and Moneygram will be out of business because of the charges and the decentralize nature of bitcoin.

[SHAWN-MIDWAYS]

Other than being competitors, both western union and moneygram avoid any legal tension in places where bitcoins are banned as the can lose a lot of money through fines and penalties and can damage the company's reputation!

[Carlsen]

Of course bitcoin is a danger to WU.
Why would anybody use a company that charges larg fees, when you can do the same thing without the company?
I see just one possibility how WU could benefit from bitcoin:
WU could open some kind of buy & sell system at the doorstep of peoples home.

[buwaytress]

As deisik pointed out, Western Union is a remittance service, which has to clear currency regulations in both sender and receiver countries to be legally compliant. The issue right now is that bitcoin is still a bit of a grey area with regards to its legal status in many countries and hasn't, in the opinion of WU perhaps, reached an acceptable level of financial compliance that would facilitate due diligence.

It could also simply be a case of perceived reliability, an issue not unique to bitcoin. WU, at discretion, may not accept currencies it deems to be unreliable value-wise: the Zimbabwean dollar was and currently, the South Sudanese pound is an example of currency WU will not accept for remittance.

[Red Fish]

Western Union can reach countries, where Internet is not available, like in Asia and Africa. Therefore Western Union will continue to work in such remote areas, and it will of course do not need Bitcoin, because Bitcoin use include computer use and Internet.

[Dudeperfect]

Absolutely agree, if they start using bitcoin then people would not use western union or similar services as bitcoin doesn't need any third party. Alternatively, it will also affect their revenue model in a negative way. I see good future of the companies like bitpay so we can safely say that bitpay is a new PayPal or Western union.

WU and MG could very well incorporate Bitcoin without their profits suffering too much. It's all about the fees that they generate when it comes to their core business model. If Bitcoin turns out to be far more popular than the regular activities of both of these services, then they will still benefit as they scoop up the fees from the increased Bitcoin usage. One way or another, if they generate fees and manage to realize growth, then it doesn't matter where it comes from.

And that's what we all are concerned about. Yes, it's about the fees and the charges when it comes to their profits but even in the current situation, they take much more time to process the transaction. No doubt, cryptocurrencies is far better when it comes to the time part. Bitcoin is faster even in transaction backlog.

[rivoke]

I think if they enable bitcoin option currency as their transaction , major people will use bitcoin instead fiat since bitcoin provide smaller fee
But in other side , bitcoin still consider as risky investation so let say if they enable bitcoin and bitcoin value suddenly dump , it become major loss for their company