Table of Contents
Money transfer giant Western Union unveiled plans to launch its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin as early as May, marking a deeper push to fold digital assets into its global payments and settlement network.
The company’s president and CEO, Devin McGranahan, told investors during Western Union’s first-quarter earnings call that the stablecoin, known as USDPT, is in the “final stages of readiness” and is expected to go live next month.
“It is no longer a question of if Western Union will be active in digital assets,” McGranahan said. “It is now how fast can we scale.”
New Coin to Power Cross-Border Settlements
McGranahan said during the call’s Q&A session that the stablecoin is being designed first as a settlement tool, giving Western Union an alternative to traditional systems such as SWIFT when moving money between the company and its agents.
McGranahan added that Western Union is working with exchange partners, banks, and financial institutions across key regions and priority corridors to support access, conversion, distribution, direct settlement, and treasury use cases for USDPT.
McGranahan said the launch represents the completion of a major internal build across issuance, treasury operations, settlement, and controls, giving Western Union the ability to operate “a native digital dollar” inside its global network.
Stable Card Set for Later This Year
Western Union also plans to launch a U.S. dollar Stable Card later this year, extending its stablecoin strategy directly to consumers. The card would allow customers to hold value in stablecoin form and spend it globally wherever cards are accepted.
McGranahan said the product could be especially useful in inflation-sensitive markets, where consumers often seek dollar-denominated value that can still be used in everyday commerce. The company expects the first wave of the card rollout to cover dozens of markets later this year.
Western Union Builds DAN as Its Crypto Distribution Layer
Western Union is also building what it calls its Digital Asset Network, or DAN, a system designed to support USDPT and other digital assets across its existing retail and digital infrastructure.
McGranahan said the company’s partner pipeline represents “tens of millions of crypto wallets globally,” giving Western Union a potential distribution route into users who already hold digital assets but still need reliable ways to move between crypto and cash.
The network is designed to connect those wallet users with Western Union’s payout infrastructure, addressing what McGranahan described as an industry-wide challenge around converting digital assets into cash through a safe and practical channel. That would allow DAN to serve as more than a support system for USDPT, positioning it as a bridge between crypto wallets and Western Union’s global money movement network.
Western Union said USDPT, DAN, and the Stable Card are being built as a connected ecosystem rather than separate experiments. With launches approaching and early transactions beginning to move through the network, McGranahan said the company is now focused on “scaling, expanding adoption, increasing velocity, and embedding digital assets more deeply” into its core money movement platform.
