WESTERN UNION EDGES CLOSER TOWARDS STABLECOIN LAUNCH ON SOLANA

May Launch Confirmed as CEO Signals Final Preparations

@WesternUnion is preparing to bring its Solana-based stablecoin $USDPT to market next month, with CEO Devin McGranahan confirming on the company's Q1 2026 earnings call that the token is in its final stages of development. "It is no longer a question of if Western Union will be active in digital assets; it is now how fast we can scale," McGranahan told analysts on the April 24 call — a notably firmer tone than the company's original guidance of a first-half 2026 target set when the project was first announced in October 2025.

$USDPT, which stands for U.S. Dollar Payment Token, is a dollar-backed stablecoin built on Solana and issued by @Anchorage Digital Bank, a federally chartered digital asset custodian. The token is designed to be 1:1 backed by U.S. dollars, with Anchorage managing reserves under federal stablecoin standards. Western Union selected Solana for its high throughput and low transaction fees, which typically run below one cent per transfer — features the company views as essential for a global payments network operating at scale.

Replacing SWIFT and Expanding the Payout Network

At launch, $USDPT will not be a retail consumer product. Instead, Western Union plans to use it to settle payments with its global agent network, replacing flows that currently travel over SWIFT — a system that is slow, costly, and closes on weekends. On-chain settlement through Solana would allow Western Union to process agent transactions 24/7, including on banking holidays, cutting both settlement times and pre-funding requirements at agent locations.

The deployment is designed to integrate with Western Union's existing infrastructure across more than 360,000 physical payout locations in over 200 countries, enabling near-instant digital-to-fiat transfers for end users. This last-mile capability is central to Western Union's broader Digital Asset Network, which connects crypto wallets to the company's retail agent network via API, allowing customers to cash out digital assets through physical locations worldwide.

Looking further ahead, Western Union also plans to launch a USD Stable Card later in 2026, which would let users hold and spend stablecoin value wherever cards are accepted — a feature McGranahan described as particularly relevant in inflation-sensitive markets. Western Union is not alone in pursuing this space: PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin, issued by Paxos, has already scaled into the multi-billion dollar range, while rival MoneyGram has built similar infrastructure around Circle's USDC on Stellar.

Sources:
Western Union Official Press Release – USDPT Stablecoin Announcement
CryptoTimes – Western Union Targets Crypto With USDPT Stablecoin Launch in May
CoinDesk – Western Union Tapping Solana and Anchorage for Digital Dollar

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BSCN – Western Union to Roll Out USD-Backed Stablecoin on Solana