2013-04-18 FoxBusiness - Bitcoin Buzz Draws Western Union, MoneyGram

[mrb]

Since when shooting oneself in the foot is a good business strategy? Any kind of strategy for that matter?

Bitcoin is a typical case of so-called disruptive technology (you should read The Innovator's Dilemma). So if current financial market leaders don't offer Bitcoin services to customers, someone else will and this someone else will eat their market anyway.

So the only way they can survive is to adopt Bitcoin, even though it will probably reduce their overall profit margins.

[Kazu]

WU could literally decide to make all of their places into the equivalent of Bitcoin atms in a single day if it wanted to. All it would take is them deciding to serve as an exchange. They already do it through a ton of other currencies, they wouldn't even have to make any new software other than a Bitcoind wrapper.

[psybits]

WU could literally decide to make all of their places into the equivalent of Bitcoin atms in a single day if it wanted to. All it would take is them deciding to serve as an exchange. They already do it through a ton of other currencies, they wouldn't even have to make any new software other than a Bitcoind wrapper.

Exactly. If someone from WU is reading this you are in the enviable position to create the first, global, walk in, BTC purchasing network on Earth!

[nebulus]

WU could literally decide to make all of their places into the equivalent of Bitcoin atms in a single day if it wanted to. All it would take is them deciding to serve as an exchange. They already do it through a ton of other currencies, they wouldn't even have to make any new software other than a Bitcoind wrapper.

Right... Because they have unlimited bitcoin reserves...

[psybits]

WU could literally decide to make all of their places into the equivalent of Bitcoin atms in a single day if it wanted to. All it would take is them deciding to serve as an exchange. They already do it through a ton of other currencies, they wouldn't even have to make any new software other than a Bitcoind wrapper.

Right... Because they have unlimited bitcoin reserves...

Dude, they would just add a commission on walk-in BTC buy and BTC sells like any other service doing this (of which most are currently online). It really wouldn't be that difficult for them to implement - I'm sure WU (well established international financial business) could afford to buy any BTC they'd need to get started - if they didn't have a system in place with trading bots on some of the exchanges to buy the coins in real time or something else just as clever

[Zomdifros]

The more I think of it, the more obvious would it be for Western Union and Moneygram to accept Bitcoin. Just from a marketing / PR perspective this makes a lot of sense. All they need to do is get a few of their offices in California to start selling bitcoins, add a payment option on their site (Bitpay could help them with that) and get a few nerds from SF or LA to buy a few coins in front of the media.
 
For WU or MG this would mean tremendous free publicity and an image of being technologically saffy and exploring new frontiers. They don't even have to make money selling bitcoins, just the PR stunt is enough. Once there's enough demand, they could gradually expand the number of offices which sell bitcoins.

[Timo Y]

Either Western Union embraces cryptocurrencies or it goes bankrupt in 5-10 years.

Western Union is roughly in the same position now as Blockbuster was in 10 years ago. The fact that Blockbuster failed to embrace the Internet early on, even though the warning signs were crystal clear, was their downfall. Western Union, take heed.

[Stephen Gornick]

Western Union is roughly in the same position now as Blockbuster was in 10 years ago.

Exactly.  It isn't that blockbuster couldn't rent a movie at a profit, but that they had to get a lot of customers through the door so that little bit of profit per-movie multiplied many times was sufficient to pay the lease on the retail space, the staff, utilities, etc.

Western Union's model is tied to a two-step process by one company ...    Western Union receives money in one location and pays out that money (less fee and conversion costs) to someone in another location.    Bitcoin obliterates that model as there are now to independent actions that occur.  One party buys bitcoins in one location.   A different party sells bitcoins in some other location.     This means there is no reliance on a trusted party in the middle. 

This eliminates all the hawalders as well.   Well, not eliminates, it simply allows them to work independently.  They simply become bitcoin exchangers.  It is much easier for them to not need to deal with both sides of a money transfer.

Since money transfer is a business with an 8% to 20% vig (depending on where from and where to), there will be a lot of people who will welcome Bitcoin's arrival in this space.