http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-22/bitcoin-targets-giants-visa-to-jpmorgan-with-lower-cost-payments.htmlThe most interesting quote from the entire article I found was this:
Western Union, in an e-mailed statement, said it is tracking the Bitcoin market while for now handling only regular currency.
You know they realize how disruptive it can potentially be to their business. If Western Union is smart they'll eventually actually use BTC to help bring down the cost of international payments, transferring from one currency to the other. I assume they're waiting to see what happens, but the main takeaway is, they're tracking it for a reason.
And it's not just them, the entire banking industry has various firms that provide international settlement services, Western Union and Moneygram are just the consumer facing firms.
The article takes a lot of care to push the low fees aspect from as many angles as it can. And it also pushes the exchange rate volatility and the questionable-use-as-currency angle as subtly as it gives itself a chance to.
This is part of a pretty consistent trend now with the financial press and commentators; they're stuck in a loop, saying "invest in startups" or "look at the payments overheads" and "don't buy the currency, definitely not", but the tone of the articles is always positive overall. BULLISH CONTRARY INDICATOR is what I'm thinking.
