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Western Union Ties Up with Stellar-backed Thunes for Direct Mobile Wallet Transfers

As it has become known, the world’s leading operator of cross-border and cross-currency money transfers Western Union has entered in a partnership with Thunes – a Stellar-backed cross-border payments network built for emerging markets.

The main aim of WU and Thunes (previously known as TransferTo) cooperation is to allow Westen Union clients to transfer funds directly into recipients’ mobile wallets around the world. 

Earlier Thunes worked together with Stellar project on testing the integration of blockchain-powered settlements on its network.

With this collaboration, Western Union will allow the use of WU’s digital network or WU agent locations to transfer funds directly to recipient’s mobile wallet. This is believed to enhance user-experience and make transfer options more convenient. 

Speaking about their new initiative, Sobia Rahman, Global Head of Account Payout Network for Western Union, stated: 

“We are continuously expanding and enhancing our account payout portfolio, providing customers with multiple payout options including bank accounts, cards or mobile wallets. Our goal is to make digital money transfer services more accessible, with a specific focus on enabling mobile transactions.” 

The company also believes that move will ensure financial inclusion all over the world by connecting people to alternative payment solutions such as mobile wallets. Indeed, this way they will make finance more accessible for those who do not have a possibility to use banking services due to the lack of traditional financial service providers in the region. 

CEO of Thunes Steve Vickers also expressed his team’s excitement about this new conjunctive initiative. He said: 

“We are delighted to be working with Western Union to provide global reach for their customers. Our payments platform seamlessly interconnects payment providers globally and enables interoperability between diverse payment systems, and by utilizing our vast networks, Western Union customers will now have more flexibility when sending money across borders.” 

Meanwhile, it is not the first attempt of Western Union to work with blockchain-based technologies. Since 2018 it has been cooperating with Ripple to test its payment solutions. Moreover WU’s management expressed a very positive stance towards xRapid. 

In February it was revealed that Western Union was working on cryptocurrency gateways and other related corridors utilizing Ripple tech, which, as they claim, makes payments more cost- and time-efficient.

Moreover, earlier, Western Union Global Money Transfer President, Odilon Almeida also stated that the company is ready to adopt any kind of currency. Here cryptocurrency comes as no exception as, in fact, the company sees little difference between crypto payments and traditional digital transfers. 

As for Stellar, the project is rapidly growing. Just recently, it has been disclosed that six international banks (together with two “major US” ones) are going to issue their own fiat-backed stablecoins on IBM’s Stellar-based cross-border payment network. 

Western Union Ties Up with Stellar-backed Thunes for Direct Mobile Wallet Transfers

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