Is it too early to predict whether PayPal or Western Union will adopt Bitcoin, and could market liquidity and speculation close the BTC–fiat loop for them?
Payments
Asked by Question Bot05/Dec/20131 answer
1 Answer
F
Faisal Khan
Answered 05/Dec/2013
Western Union would certainly be threatened by Bitcoin's near instant settlement, irrevocable transaction and a network that spans each and every place where a TCP/IP connection is available. If they were to embrace it, they would piggy back Sender's currency onto BTC and vice versa on the Recipient's end.
But if that is the sole purpose, then Ripple might be a better network to adopt (technology wise, etc.) However in WU's case, the popularity of the currency all around is what would be like honey to them.
PayPal is mixed. Last I heard, through my limited resources within PayPal, is that they are definitely looking at it. A load/unload mechanism model is supposedly ready within PayPal for utilizing Bitcoins (I cannot independently confirm this, so it must be taken as a rumor).
PayPal and Western Union (in particular) could certainly play the role of a market maker introducing the much needed liquidity into the system at both the loading/unloading points where BTC get exchanged in/out to regular currency.
But if that is the sole purpose, then Ripple might be a better network to adopt (technology wise, etc.) However in WU's case, the popularity of the currency all around is what would be like honey to them.
PayPal is mixed. Last I heard, through my limited resources within PayPal, is that they are definitely looking at it. A load/unload mechanism model is supposedly ready within PayPal for utilizing Bitcoins (I cannot independently confirm this, so it must be taken as a rumor).
PayPal and Western Union (in particular) could certainly play the role of a market maker introducing the much needed liquidity into the system at both the loading/unloading points where BTC get exchanged in/out to regular currency.