I'm confused.
What could WU do with Bitcoin that they couldn't already do with fiat?
Wouldn't they have a huge float in an account in each currency and just arbitrage between the accounts to keep them level?
Why would it be necessary to go Fiat *Location 1* > BTC *Tranferring* > Fiat *Location 2* when they can just go Fiat > Fiat
Western Union should look at bitcoin at an oppurtunity instead of a threat. Western Union + Bitcoin would be the perfect marriage.
They got dealers around the world that can thandle cash and financial muscles and would become the no 1 place for people to convert between fiat and bitcoin in person.
Exactly. Their dealer network means maintaining the same experience for their customers, while if they utilize BTC as an intermediate step for the transfers, they may be able to reduce the regulatory headache/overhead/cost by a good amount.
Yes, they can use BTC instead of bank transactions, but that will require:
a) BTC / USD dont fluctuate more than a few percent per day (not 30-40% per day!)
b) Ability to hedge the price of BTC/USD (options, futures and ability to go short)
c) Bitcoin can handle larger amounts of transactions per second than today