Western Union - First Large Corporation To Be Killed By Bitcoin

[bonker]

Western Union is  looking too archaic to survive the rise of Bitcoin.

I mean, the first real-world killer app of Bitcoin is for overseas workers to send remittances back to their families without obsolete companies like Western Union stealing a large chunk of it in what amounts to an unfair tax.

What can Western Union do?
1) Adopt bitcoin and lose revenue
2) Ignore bitcoin and be made irrelevant
3) Fight bitcoin and lose

Western Union is in the living dead, the first bitcoin zombie!

[1714503060]

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[1714503060]

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[Tirapon]

If they adopt Bitcoin and provide a wallet service in countries where having your own computer is uncommon, they could gain revenue. They would potentially become the equivalent of a bank.

[nebulus]

3) Fight bitcoin and lose

Their best bet, I think.

[davidpbrown]

There's a large opening right now for a big provider to allow people to buy and use Bitcoins - and other crytocurrency for that matter.

If the Government had any sense, it would encourage cryptocurrency as a real better alternative to its own printing money.

Western Union could become the mtgox of the real world Bitcoin use, if it moves fast. Damn site better change of being useful that Ripple as it's got real world interaction to leverage.

Even charging a small fee for helping people do what they could do for free, they could make a fortune.

[bonker]

If they adopt Bitcoin and provide a wallet service in countries where having your own computer is uncommon, they could gain revenue. They would potentially become the equivalent of a bank.

Adoption is pretty much their only option. But the main problem is that they are a large and lumbering corporation, full of sloppy and lazy ingrained practices and petty internal rivalries. They are going to spend a long time in freefall before they are able to adapt, if at all.

[ManBearPig]

If they were really smart they'd come up with a 'wrapper' for Bitcoin and shift their business model really, really quick.

[St.Bit]

They could sell BTC for cash and become THE place to buy bitcoin.

There is no competition in BTC4Cash and they're unlikely to loose that monopoly if they move fast enough. AML and every future law on bitcoin will make it impossible for small enterprises to enter that market. Bitcoin-24 has already been killed by an overmotivated prosecutor and it requires a big law department to fight off legal attacks. Western Union is used to scam people so they have that department.

WU has in contrast to Paypal, Visa, and Banks no other bitcoin threatened business model that faces to be total obsolete by bitcoin. They transfer funds for profit. I belive WU could be one of the best performing stocks of the century if they get on bitcoin early enough. Or among the worst if they don't.

[bitcoincraps]

Western Union :

Step 1 - I send 200 euro to my father in Thailand
Step 2 - My father goes to the nearest WU office and pick up 170 euro IN CASH, 25 minutes LATER in local currency
Step 3 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 45 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

Bitcoin :

Step 1 - I send 2 BTC to my father.
Step 2 - My father use an exchange to sell 2 BTC for 200 USD. He withdraw the money. He receives 170 EURO (30 euro is the international transfer fee) 4 days LATER.
Step 3 - My father exchange the EURO to local currency (a small tax apply)
Step 4 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 4 days and 20 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

[tosku]

Western Union :

Step 1 - I send 200 euro to my father in Thailand
Step 2 - My father goes to the nearest WU office and pick up 170 euro IN CASH, 25 minutes LATER in local currency
Step 3 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 45 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

Bitcoin :

Step 1 - I send 2 BTC to my father.
Step 2 - My father use an exchange to sell 2 BTC for 200 USD. He withdraw the money. He receives 170 EURO (30 euro is the international transfer fee) 4 days LATER.
Step 3 - My father exchange the EURO to local currency (a small tax apply)
Step 4 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 4 days and 20 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

If your father is going to exchange the BTC for fiat in another country and then wire it to himself, why don't you just wire him the money in the first place? And if he is receiving EUR, why doesn't he sell the BTC for EUR in a European exchange, and receive a SEPA transfer? The fee for that is like 0.2 EUR.

This is how you should be doing it:
Step 1 - You send 2 BTC to your father
Step 2 - Your father sells the BTC for cash using localbitcoins. He receives the equivalent of 280 USD / 215 EUR.

EDIT: Sorry, I missed that your father is in Thailand. What I don't understand is why you are using EUR at all.

[inge]

Bitcoin :

Step 1 - I send 2 BTC to my father.
Step 2 - My father use an exchange to sell 2 BTC for 200 USD. He withdraw the money. He receives 170 EURO (30 euro is the international transfer fee) 4 days LATER.
Step 3 - My father exchange the EURO to local currency (a small tax apply)
Step 4 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 4 days and 20 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

In Thailand is WU infrastructur well developed, while Bitcoin infrastructur is just start developing...in Europe, at the moment, you can change Btc for Euro really fast.

[siggy]

regarding WU and BTC.....

There is another aspect of the Western Union business that I haven't seen touched upon yet...  That is their Bill Pay service.  There are a LOT of companies that have bill pay agreements with WU. 

For example..  Lets take a well known bank.. Citi ..  If you are coming up on "late charge day" and you need to pay your mortgage NOW ..  you can take cash down to your local WU branch and pay your mortgage IN CASH and have the payment credited same day. 

Same thing with my local electric company...  if you need to pay your bill TODAY or have your electric shut off, you can pay cash at the local WU branch.

A lot of other banks and utilities have this same agreement with WU.

So, for those of you who keep saying "When I can pay my mortgage in BTC then.. bla bla bla.."  ... well get ready for the bla bla bla.. cuz if WU starts dealing in BTC, you can do exactly that.. PAY YOUR MORTGAGE WITH BTC.

Sigg

[Mcoroklo]

Western Union is really big in Asia, so they will be an important player for Bitcoins. If I remember correctly, the CEO even mentioned Bitcoins as something they considered implementing.

I think it will happen soon. They are not stupid enough to wait till the Silicon Valley guys kill their remittance income forever.

[Adrian-x]

Western Union is in the living dead, the first bitcoin zombie!

It is the other way around.
Western Union can be a trusted fiat interface to Bitcoin (an exchange).
Migrant Workers send money to places with higher inflation, they but Bitcoin in developed places with relatively lower inflation.
There is a net benefit to workers, the people who get the money and a stabilizing / strengthening of the benefiting country. It doesn't server corporate interest exploiting the imbalance. (It could but it would strength the Bitcoin economy)

There is more to consider but my guess is it's a go. 

[Gordonium]

Step 2 - My father use an exchange to sell 2 BTC for 200 USD. He withdraw the money. He receives 170 EURO (30 euro is the international transfer fee) 4 days LATER.

There are other ways to convert BTC to FIAT thatn MtGox. And besides, soon you can just spend your Bitcoins, no need for converting.

[Anon136]

Western Union is  looking too archaic to survive the rise of Bitcoin.

I mean, the first real-world killer app of Bitcoin is for overseas workers to send remittances back to their families without obsolete companies like Western Union stealing a large chunk of it in what amounts to an unfair tax.

What can Western Union do?
1) Adopt bitcoin and lose revenue
2) Ignore bitcoin and be made irrelevant
3) Fight bitcoin and lose

Western Union is in the living dead, the first bitcoin zombie!

or

4) change their business model

[firefop]

Western Union is  looking too archaic to survive the rise of Bitcoin.

I mean, the first real-world killer app of Bitcoin is for overseas workers to send remittances back to their families without obsolete companies like Western Union stealing a large chunk of it in what amounts to an unfair tax.

What can Western Union do?
1) Adopt bitcoin and lose revenue
2) Ignore bitcoin and be made irrelevant
3) Fight bitcoin and lose

Western Union is in the living dead, the first bitcoin zombie!

or

4) change their business model

At some point (this will be the signal that we've achieved 'adoption' and that bitcoin will never fail) one of the big-boys (payment processors) will jump on the bitcoin bandwagon. . . It would be great if it were Western Union. They could retool their entire network to use bitcoins on the backend while at the same time reducing equipment costs and increasing profits (nobody is going to bat an eyelash at paying their standard fees for moving fiat to btc or vice versa). It would also open a new line of business for them when integrating bitcoin into their billpay and other features.

The block-chain would effectively replace their own server costs for actually conducting transactions. Maybe they could slightly lower their feels across the board and be even more competitive on price (due to btc transfers being so cheap to conduct). If they also offered wallet services they would eventually cross the line from being a payment processor into effectively being the largest bank in the world (at some point) and almost immediately the largest exchange.

One of the payment processors will do this eventually... but it's up to them to decide who.

[notme]

Western Union is  looking too archaic to survive the rise of Bitcoin.

I mean, the first real-world killer app of Bitcoin is for overseas workers to send remittances back to their families without obsolete companies like Western Union stealing a large chunk of it in what amounts to an unfair tax.

What can Western Union do?
1) Adopt bitcoin and lose revenue
2) Ignore bitcoin and be made irrelevant
3) Fight bitcoin and lose

Western Union is in the living dead, the first bitcoin zombie!

or

4) change their business model

At some point (this will be the signal that we've achieved 'adoption' and that bitcoin will never fail) one of the big-boys (payment processors) will jump on the bitcoin bandwagon. . . It would be great if it were Western Union. They could retool their entire network to use bitcoins on the backend while at the same time reducing equipment costs and increasing profits (nobody is going to bat an eyelash at paying their standard fees for moving fiat to btc or vice versa). It would also open a new line of business for them when integrating bitcoin into their billpay and other features.

The block-chain would effectively replace their own server costs for actually conducting transactions. Maybe they could slightly lower their feels across the board and be even more competitive on price (due to btc transfers being so cheap to conduct). If they also offered wallet services they would eventually cross the line from being a payment processor into effectively being the largest bank in the world (at some point) and almost immediately the largest exchange.

One of the payment processors will do this eventually... but it's up to them to decide who.

Just be careful with that bolded part.  When we achieve 'adoption' is exactly when we will see the largest correction in bitcoin history.  After the masses ride through the one last boot shaking crash, we can finally have some semblance of stability.

[nicolazza]

Western Union :

Step 1 - I send 200 euro to my father in Thailand
Step 2 - My father goes to the nearest WU office and pick up 170 euro IN CASH, 25 minutes LATER in local currency
Step 3 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 45 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

Bitcoin :

Step 1 - I send 2 BTC to my father.
Step 2 - My father use an exchange to sell 2 BTC for 200 USD. He withdraw the money. He receives 170 EURO (30 euro is the international transfer fee) 4 days LATER.
Step 3 - My father exchange the EURO to local currency (a small tax apply)
Step 4 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 4 days and 20 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

1 send btc to your father's wallet
2 your father pay a massage in bitcoin

Time: 5 minutes
Fees: 0.0005 btc

[notme]

Western Union :

Step 1 - I send 200 euro to my father in Thailand
Step 2 - My father goes to the nearest WU office and pick up 170 euro IN CASH, 25 minutes LATER in local currency
Step 3 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 45 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

Bitcoin :

Step 1 - I send 2 BTC to my father.
Step 2 - My father use an exchange to sell 2 BTC for 200 USD. He withdraw the money. He receives 170 EURO (30 euro is the international transfer fee) 4 days LATER.
Step 3 - My father exchange the EURO to local currency (a small tax apply)
Step 4 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 4 days and 20 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

1 send btc to your father's wallet
2 your father pay a massage in bitcoin

Time: 5 minutes
Fees: 0.0005 btc

Yep... All of bitcoin's problems can be solved by looking at the world through a bitcoin lens instead of a usd (or $fiat) lens.  If you do that, all of the sudden bitcoin's problems become fiat's problems.  And fiat can't even be moved in reasonable timeframes.

[bonker]

Western Union :

Step 1 - I send 200 euro to my father in Thailand
Step 2 - My father goes to the nearest WU office and pick up 170 euro IN CASH, 25 minutes LATER in local currency
Step 3 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 45 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

Bitcoin :

Step 1 - I send 2 BTC to my father.
Step 2 - My father use an exchange to sell 2 BTC for 200 USD. He withdraw the money. He receives 170 EURO (30 euro is the international transfer fee) 4 days LATER.
Step 3 - My father exchange the EURO to local currency (a small tax apply)
Step 4 - My father use the cash to pay a massage, 20 minutes later.

Time : 4 days and 20 minutes
Fees : 30 euro

That just screams opportunity to me: if Thais set up as locabitcoin agents they can make good money and offer a faster and cheaper service than Western Union. There is mountains of room for locals in poor countries to make money by killing Western Union.