Western Union is the latest legacy financial services firm to enter the stablecoin race, revealing that its U.S. dollar-backed token, USDPT, is in the “final stages” of preparation.
Western Union is also rolling out two new services to help integrate the stablecoin into a broader ecosystem. The USD Stable Card, expected later this year, will allow consumers to hold value in Western Union stablecoins and spend it globally.
The second product, the Digital Asset Network, will leverage USDPT to connect crypto wallets with Western Union’s existing retail and agent network.
Sluggish Revenue in Consumer Transfers
While stablecoins are playing a growing part of business-to-business cross-border transactions, Western Union’s core business remains individual remittances. That segment has recently lost momentum. Consumer money-transfer revenue accounted for 87% of total revenue in 2025 but declined by 3% in the first quarter.
Even so, USDPT appears to be designed primarily for settlement within Western Union’s global agent network, rather than as a purely consumer-facing product.
Western Union could have integrated existing stablecoins into its cross-border infrastructure. Instead, by issuing its own, the company is positioning itself as a competitor to established players like Circle and Tether. This approach also allows Western Union to avoid transaction fees paid to third-party issuers and intermediaries.
Solana Plays a Key Role
Western Union has been laying the groundwork for this move for some time, with significant support from Solana, which is expanding its footprint in the stablecoin space. Earlier this year, Western Union joined the Solana Foundation’s enterprise developer program, enabling it to explore blockchain-based payment applications.
Solana’s lower costs likely made it an attractive choice. Transaction fees on Solana are typically less than a penny, compared with Ethereum, where fees can range from $1 to $50.
On top of that, Solana has introduced features like token extensions, which allow developers to create tokens with specialized functionality for specific use cases. These capabilities were a key factor in PayPal’s decision to expand its stablecoin, PYUSD, from Ethereum to Solana.
