Western Union recently announced its selection of the Solana blockchain to build a regulated stablecoin rail. This decision marks a departure from its earlier experiments with Ripple’s XRP technology. The initiative encompasses the planned launch of the US Dollar Payment Token (USDPT) stablecoin and a Digital Asset Network, both slated for the first half of 2026.
Previous XRP Pilot Showed No Cost Savings
In 2018, Western Union conducted trials using Ripple’s xRapid service and the XRP token. At the time, the company’s CEO, Hikmet Ersek, indicated that these trials were too limited in scope to demonstrate significant cost savings and that the process remained “still too expensive.” Ripple later confirmed that the pilot involved only a small number of payments, with the 2018 XRP test focusing on its use as a bridge asset for cross-border transfers.
Given that Western Union processes over $100 billion in annual transactions, the limited scope of the XRP pilot failed to prove its capability to reduce costs at such a scale.
Western Union CEO Devin McGranahan shared at Money20/20 that the company evaluated various alternatives and concluded that for an institutional use case like theirs, the Solana blockchain was the most suitable choice.
Solana's Advantages for Western Union's Stablecoin Initiative
Solana presented three key advantages that influenced Western Union's decision. Firstly, major payment networks have already validated the blockchain for settlement purposes. Visa, for instance, expanded its USDC settlement capabilities to Solana and published a technical brief highlighting the network’s high throughput and low fees as beneficial for card settlements. Similarly, Stripe reintroduced crypto payments with USDC on Solana as a supported rail.
Secondly, Solana led in stablecoin activity and usage volume throughout 2024 and 2025. Artemis analytics indicated that the network offered deeper liquidity and broader distribution compared to its competitors. In contrast, USDC was only launched natively on the XRP Ledger in June 2025, and XRPL’s Multi-Purpose Token standard became operational in October 2025. Western Union therefore opted for a rail with a more established stablecoin track record.
Thirdly, Solana’s Token Extensions provide issuers with the ability to hard-code compliance controls. Features such as transfer hooks, allowlist capabilities, freeze authority through permanent delegation, confidential transfers, and protocol-level fees align with Western Union’s requirements for a regulated stablecoin. The company views USDPT as an integral part of a cash off-ramp network that necessitates stringent regulatory oversight.
Anchorage Digital Bank Provides Regulatory Foundation
Western Union has partnered with Anchorage Digital Bank to issue USDPT. Anchorage operates as a federally chartered institution and its issuance platform is designed to launch GENIUS-compliant stablecoins across multiple chains under federal oversight. Western Union's announcement highlighted Solana's performance in conjunction with Anchorage's bank-regulated structure as a means to mitigate regulatory and operational risks.
Devin McGranahan stated that USDPT will enable Western Union to “own the economics linked to stablecoins.” The company frames this move as a natural evolution in its 175-year history of connecting people through technology.
Western Union plans for users to access USDPT through partner exchanges. The Digital Asset Network is intended to facilitate seamless cash off-ramps by leveraging the company’s extensive global footprint. McGranahan described the initiative as a way to enable “compliant and secure digital movement across borders with certainty, trust, and at a lower cost.”
It is important to note that Western Union has not committed to migrating its entire $100 billion annual volume onto Solana immediately. The company has outlined a phased launch, with the pace of scaling dependent on adoption rates and the rollout process.
Solana's combination of enterprise payment validation, mature stablecoin infrastructure, programmable compliance features, and a federally regulated issuing partner likely represent the core reasons for Western Union's choice of its infrastructure to build a regulated stablecoin rail.