Earlier this year Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek had said that it was open to Bitcoin provided it was regulated; however, now it looks the organization is skeptical about its role in current market. The statement from Western Union chief information officer John “David” Thompson, that Bitcoin is not a solution for today’s market says it all.
Thompson, however, admits that Bitcoin represents an innovative technology that, if successful, could significantly impact the way people transact and exchange information. He believes that future is fogged by regulatory and cultural challenges that are yet to be resolved and till then there cannot be any concrete solution.
He says he invested in Bitcoin mining though to learn more about nuts and bolts of the Bitcoin technology as he has some [KnCMiner] Neptunes about two terahashes in Bitcoin mining. According to Thompson he began mining both personally and professionally to see what the technology could do and if Western Union could potentially benefit from its implementation.
The bottom-line according him is whether Bitcoin moves past being what he called “a solution looking for a problem to solve.” He says Bitcoin as a technology doesn’t solve any problems for the company in the core of its business. Its challenge is the last mile is how does it get that money in the person’s hand, and meet all the regulatory compliance needs in that country.
No Decision on Bitcoin Till Customers’ Demand Comes in
Therefore, according to Thompson he does not really need it for the minimum. He says that moving a bit from Point A to Point B isn’t hard but the last mile is really hard. However, according to him Western Union is open to the technology and will continue observing its development to see if it can provide solutions to challenges it faces.
Thompson admits that to him Western Union is interested in seeing how the technology grows amid an evolving regulatory environment as being a global company, Western Union looks at a landscape of hundreds of legal jurisdictions, each with their own specific standards on money transmission and transaction oversight.
Adding further Thompson declared that Western Union likely won’t take active steps to integrate Bitcoin until it sees demand from its customers. He admitted that there isn’t any interest on the part of the company’s global customer base to make the company take that next step.
To contact the reporter of this story: Deepak Tiwari at deepak@forexminute.com
Thompson, however, admits […]
