Topic: Western Union considering using Bitcoin (Read 7083 times)
This will never happen. If Western Union accept BTC, then banks, VISA/MASTER and Paypal will boycott it.
Man sends $500 in Western Union. Arrives 10 minutes later as $100. Man sends $100 to his Auntie who now has $1000 10 minutes later.
I can't see what could possibly be wrong with this business model.
Auntie sends 1000$ to his son in BTC, that 1000$ is worth 600$ 10 minutes later... I can't see what could possibly be wrong with this business model.
BTC will not function as a payment system or currency until its value stabilizes compared to real life assets such as fiat and commodities.
Right now BTC is only a speculative asset because of the extreme volatility in BTC/USD.
...And then keep in mind certain affiliate companies of Western Union build hardware that frequently and suddenly make it dramatically more difficult to acquire transfer forms (ASIC mining).
They could also just dev a mobile currency backed by bitcoin. Fully automatic with no banks involved, would be epic. I pay out a bunch of money to various people all over the world, once they find out they can just meet somebody in a cafe or mall and push a button on their phone to trade BTC and get cash in hand none of them want to use WU anymore
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
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.
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
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
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.
Man sends $500 in Western Union. Arrives 10 minutes later as $100. Man sends $100 to his Auntie who now has $1000 10 minutes later.
I can't see what could possibly be wrong with this business model.
Auntie sends 1000$ to his son in BTC, that 1000$ is worth 600$ 10 minutes later... I can't see what could possibly be wrong with this business model.
BTC will not function as a payment system or currency until its value stabilizes compared to real life assets such as fiat and commodities.
Right now BTC is only a speculative asset because of the extreme volatility in BTC/USD.
Man sends $500 in Western Union. Arrives 10 minutes later as $100. Man sends $100 to his Auntie who now has $1000 10 minutes later.
I can't see what could possibly be wrong with this business model.
I can't see what could possibly be wrong with this business model.
"Bitcoin considers usurping Western Union" would be more like it
It would be interesting to see how much of that are the same coins being turned over. Nobody is day trading western union. So to say you're bigger than western union is kind of silly. Is it 239 million worth of transactions? Or 1 million worth, 239 times? Who knows.
Compare it to a particular stock's volume on any given day, that is a better and more reasonable comparison to make.
Compare it to a particular stock's volume on any given day, that is a better and more reasonable comparison to make.
At the Moment (due to the US$ Price) we are bigger than Western Union in Daily Transaction Volume (US$) !
It'd be interesting to know how much of that is used for remittance. 0.5, 1, 10%?
Nice bump!
At the Moment (due to the US$ Price) we are bigger than Western Union in Daily Transaction Volume (US$) !
Source:
http://coinometrics.com/bitcoin/btix
Or just find the product you want and order it on bitspend.
Yea, I'd rather order it directly from the authorized dealer them self. I questioned bitspend about how RMA's are delt with for hardware, and was never answered, so I am kinda iffy about that and will just probably order newegg gift cards, that way the invoice is mine, if I ever have to deal with an RMA like I had recently.
Or just find the product you want and order it on bitspend.
Damnit, I wish other places would jump on board like "NEWEGG,Tigerdirect,microcenter". We need a large authorized dealer hardware store to accept bitcoin. ugh.
Good news to hear that WU might jump on board, but we need more places too, not these raggedy website shops like bitcoin store.
Good news to hear that WU might jump on board, but we need more places too, not these raggedy website shops like bitcoin store.
I wish newegg would!
Bitcoinstore is pretty amazing actually - they stock so many products! But yes some more big players on board is definitely needed and I am sure it will happen in good time - remember anyone can send an e-mail to a company explaining why they should accept Bitcoin
I think some people are doing this daily... Damnit, I wish other places would jump on board like "NEWEGG,Tigerdirect,microcenter". We need a large authorized dealer hardware store to accept bitcoin. ugh.
Good news to hear that WU might jump on board, but we need more places too, not these raggedy website shops like bitcoin store.
Good news to hear that WU might jump on board, but we need more places too, not these raggedy website shops like bitcoin store.
I wish newegg would!
No I think its a win-win situation for both bitcoin users and Western Union.
Many of Western Unions customers are people from poor countries working in richer countries and they send money to their family in the home country.
With the progress in developing countries and internet penetration around the globe Western Unions clientbase will decrease when people find easier and cheaper ways to send money home.
So this is an opportunity for Western Union to take the step to the internet age of crypto currencies, or become as obsolete as telegrams.
It is beneficial for bitcoin as well if Western Union "franchises" bitcoin, the moment they do so 7 billion people will be able to buy, sell or transfer bitcoins even if they dont have internet or mobile phones.
Without Western Union this development might take decades to reach 7 billion people.
This is quite a big deal indeed. Lets hope that they will add this to their portfolio.
Great point. Use the SITE so that someday NewEgg and Amazon will start accepting this. Maybe he could make a website that bascially just sells NewEgg and Amazon gift cards and then show the results? I would be willing to help with the capital that would be required to get stock.
The problem with gift cards (aside from their not being in bitcoin natively) is that you wind up paying more if you shop at NewEgg with one.
Bitcoinstore is selling the stuff at zero markup, so it's cheaper. It must hurt a little extra for the guys at NewEgg to see those profits going up in smoke.
Roger's a smart guy.
Great point. Use the SITE so that someday NewEgg and Amazon will start accepting this. Maybe he could make a website that bascially just sells NewEgg and Amazon gift cards and then show the results? I would be willing to help with the capital that would be required to get stock.
Jump to: