For 175 years, Western Union has connected people through innovation. From telegrams to digital remittances, the company has always evolved with technology. Now, it is taking its boldest step yet — moving billions of dollars across borders using blockchain.
After years of experimenting with multiple blockchain solutions, including Ripple’s XRP, Western Union has made a decisive move. The payments giant will now use Solana to power its next generation of settlement infrastructure.
A New Era for Cross-Border Payments
Western Union’s blockchain journey began nearly a decade ago. In 2015, the company ran pilot programs with Ripple Labs, testing the use of XRP for faster international payments. Those trials demonstrated potential efficiency gains but did not progress to a full rollout.
Today, Western Union is taking blockchain adoption to the next level. The company is launching USDPT, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, on the Solana network. The token will be issued in partnership with Anchorage Digital Bank, a federally regulated crypto custodian.
The goal is clear — to create a faster, cheaper, and more secure alternative to traditional systems like SWIFT.
WESTERN UNION TESTED XRP FOR A DECADE – BUT WHY DID IT PICK SOLANA?
Western Union spent years testing Ripple’s tech, even ran pilots with $XRP for cross-border payments going back to 2015.
The company’s piloting stablecoin settlement rails to speed up cross-border payments and… https://t.co/fYh5fSqfoC https://t.co/CRSol0HB2g
Why Solana Won Over XRP
Western Union’s CEO, Devin McGranahan, explained that the decision followed years of testing and evaluation. He said the company examined all major blockchains before settling on Solana.
“For 175 years, we’ve been connecting people with technology, and we have used that technology to move money,” McGranahan said. “This is the next evolution of moving digital assets — the ability to move money seamlessly, cost-effectively, rapidly, everywhere around the world.”
McGranahan emphasized that choosing a blockchain partner for institutional use required careful analysis.
“If you’re Western Union and you’re already moving $100 billion a year across borders, picking the partner that does exactly that — fast, efficient, stable, and secure — is really important,” he explained. “For an institutional use case like ours, the Solana blockchain was the right choice.”
Speed, Cost, and Reliability Were Key Factors
Solana’s high throughput and near-zero transaction costs proved decisive. The network can handle thousands of transactions per second without congestion. For Western Union, those attributes aligned perfectly with its global transaction volume.
Beyond performance, Solana offers institutional-grade reliability and developer support. These technical advantages made it suitable for Western Union’s planned large-scale rollout.
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From XRP Tests to Solana Deployment
Western Union’s earlier XRP pilots helped shape its understanding of blockchain-based remittances. Those experiments revealed both the promise and the limitations of early blockchain systems.
Since then, regulatory clarity around stablecoins and improvements in blockchain scalability have transformed the landscape. Solana, now battle-tested and widely adopted, presented a ready-to-deploy option for global settlement.
Industry Impact and the Path Ahead
The announcement, highlighted by CryptosRus on X, has sparked strong reactions across the crypto community. Many see Western Union’s shift to Solana as a validation of the network’s growing dominance in real-world finance.
This move also marks a turning point for blockchain adoption in legacy finance. Western Union’s integration of stablecoin settlement could inspire other payment companies to follow.
McGranahan believes this evolution will redefine global remittances.
“We think this will be our next revolution — not just in our history, but in how remittances happen all over the globe,” he said.
Western Union’s decision shows that innovation never stops — not even for a 175-year-old company. By choosing Solana, it has positioned itself at the forefront of the blockchain-powered future of global payments.