Western Union has filed cryptocurrency-related trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis.
#WesternUnion has filed 3 trademark applications claiming plans for
▶️ Financial + Banking + Insurance
▶️ Virtual currency exchange + transfer
▶️ Commodity and Crypto trading + brokerage
▶️ Issuing tokens of value
…and much more#Web3 #Metaverse #Cryptocurrency #NFT #DeFi pic.twitter.com/YvKysvj3mq— Mike Kondoudis (@KondoudisLaw) October 25, 2022
The applications filed by Western Union imply that the company intends to launch its own virtual currency exchange and cryptocurrency token.
The financial services company also has plans to expand into digital asset management and administration.
Western Union and the Web3
Until now, Western Union has been relatively cautious about entering blockchain technology.
In December 2018, former Western Union Global Money Transfer president Odilon Almeida said adding cryptocurrencies as an option for customers would be a big reach, as digital assets have yet to master governance, compliance and volatility and receive global acceptance.
Added Almeida: “Cryptocurrency could become more of an option for exchanging assets between people and countries. If that happens, we would be ready to launch.”
It seems that now, four years later, the growing adoption of blockchain technology-along with increased competition in the international money transfer space-has finally pushed the financial services giant to tap the cryptocurrency markets.
Earlier this year, centralized cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase had begun testing a remittance program for recipients in Mexico, challenging the market dominated by Western Union.
Coinbase claimed its services were significantly cheaper than traditional cross-border payments and sought to expand its services globally to the world’s 1.7 billion underbanked people.
Still, Western Union remains one of the largest players in the global remittance industry, and Almeida has clung to the belief that “Western Union is better positioned to benefit from the cryptocurrency movement in the long run than any start-up.”
“Western Union is already better prepared to solve those variables because it already moves money in 130 currencies and devotes significant resources to those three challenges,” he has said.
Now, Western Union appears to be positioning itself to offer remittance services and more in the cryptocurrency market, as a digital and secure asset exchange, and could issue its own token.
Western Union continues to enter a crowded and competitive field, where companies such as PayPal and Mastercard have also recently opened their doors.
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