Solana faces the ultimate test! Can Western Union USDPT support cross-border remittances for 100 million people?

Western Union will begin issuing the Solana-based stablecoin USDPT to its more than 100 million customers in the first half of 2026. This model was announced on October 28, challenging the neutral infrastructure strategies deployed by Visa and Stripe. USDPT marks a test of whether vertical integration can lead to the mass adoption of blockchain remittances, as encryption-native protocols have struggled to gain retail appeal.

Vertical Integration Challenges Visa and Stripe's Neutral Track Model

(Source: BusinessWire)

Visa and Stripe have built stablecoin infrastructure into an open platform, enabling third parties to issue tokens and transact across multiple chain networks. In 2021, Visa integrated USDC settlements on Ethereum, then expanded to Solana in 2023, allowing merchants and acquirers, including Worldpay and Nuvei, to use stablecoins for settlements with Visa. The company added support for PYUSD, Paxos' USDG, Circle's euro stablecoin, and the Stellar and Avalanche networks in July 2025, positioning its platform as a settlement layer without issuing proprietary tokens beneath card transactions.

Stripe re-enabled cryptocurrency payments in 2024, processing USDC on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, and automatically settling to merchants' Stripe balances. The company acquired Bridge in 2025 and launched Open Issuance, a white-label service that allows businesses to issue compliant stablecoins, with partners responsible for reserve management and liquidity coordination. Bridge applied for a U.S. trust bank license, embedding regulatory compliance into the platform, similar to Anchorage Digital Bank's role in the Western Union program, but targeting developers and merchants rather than remittance customers.

The practice of Western Union is completely different, integrating issuance, distribution, and cash exchange under one brand. USDPT will run on Solana, with Anchorage Digital Bank as the issuer and custodian, and will be distributed through partner exchanges and Western Union's digital asset network. This network connects crypto wallets with Western Union agents in over 200 countries and regions, allowing customers to send USDPT from their wallets and receive cash in local currency at retail agents. Western Union will also accept other digital assets through this network, positioning the infrastructure as the last-mile solution for any cryptocurrency holders needing access to fiat currency.

This vertical model's economics are completely different from neutral infrastructure. Visa and Stripe earn fees from transaction flows, but do not capture the floating income from stablecoin reserves, nor do they control the end-user relationships. Western Union will earn revenue from USDPT issuance, transaction fees, foreign exchange spreads, and agency commissions, thereby accumulating income throughout the payment chain. The company's existing customer base provides distribution, but converting users who have already transacted in fiat currency to customers who prioritize stablecoin transactions requires education, trust, and incentives that traditional remittance pricing may not be able to provide.

Why has Solana become the only choice for USDP?

Western Union chooses Solana to process USDPT based on throughput and cost. Solana's transaction processing speed is less than one second, with fees as low as a fraction of a cent, making small remittances economically viable amidst the friction caused by fluctuating Gas costs on Ethereum. The involvement of Anchorage Digital Bank includes custody and reserve management, providing a federally regulated infrastructure that meets U.S. compliance standards, and enables Western Union to market USDPT as a bank-issued product.

Choosing Solana instead of multi-chain support makes Western Union's strategy different from Visa and Stripe, the latter two viewing chain selection as a configuration option rather than a strategic commitment. Visa supports Ethereum, Solana, Stellar, and Avalanche; Stripe supports Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon. Western Union's single-chain issuance simplifies technical integration, but it also locks the company into Solana's ecosystem, creating a reliance on network performance and limiting interoperability with other chain-based stablecoins, unless Western Union subsequently bridges USDPT or increases support for competitor tokens.

Solana's Technical Challenges in Handling 100 Million Users:

Theoretical Throughput vs. Actual Performance: Solana theoretically can handle 65,000 transactions per second, but the actual network has experienced congestion and even downtime multiple times during peak periods. 100 million users being active simultaneously poses an unprecedented challenge to network stability.

Concerns About Downtime History: Solana has experienced multiple outages in the past due to network congestion. Although the technical team has made improvements, large-scale commercial applications require over 99.99% reliability.

Cost Advantage Sustainability: Currently, Solana's low transaction fees partly stem from the network's usage rate not being saturated. If 100 million users flood in, it is questionable whether the transaction fees can remain competitive.

The digital asset network aims to address problems that native encryption protocols have yet to solve: converting blockchain balances into spendable cash in jurisdictions where card infrastructure is sparse and bank accounts are uncommon. Western Union operates over 600,000 agent locations, many of which are in markets where digital payments still lag behind cash. The network will allow wallet users (including non-Western Union customers) to access the network and convert USDPT or other digital assets into local currency using the compliance stack that Western Union manages for KYC and AML requirements.

Adoption Barriers and Competitive Pressure Multiple Tests

Western Union faces execution risks in multiple aspects. The company must integrate wallet partners, educate customers on how to use stablecoins, maintain regulatory compliance across jurisdictions with different cryptocurrency rules, and compete on pricing with traditional remittance providers and cryptocurrency-native services. On the Solana platform, USDC transfers in channels where both the remitter and the recipient hold cryptocurrency wallets have already fallen below Western Union's pricing. Nevertheless, adopters are still focused on cryptocurrency users rather than mainstream remittance customer bases.

Visa and Stripe avoid adoption friction by embedding stablecoins into existing user interfaces. Visa invisibly handles stablecoin settlements in card transactions; Stripe allows merchants to accept stablecoins and receive fiat currency in their Stripe balance without interacting with wallets or blockchains. The model of Western Union requires customers to hold USDPT in a wallet and then initiate transactions to the digital asset network to obtain cash, which adds some steps compared to Western Union's current mobile app that can process fiat-to-fiat transfers without exposing the blockchain.

Competitive pressure also comes from other remittance providers exploring stablecoin integration. MoneyGram partnered with Stellar in 2021 to support the deposit and withdrawal of USDC at retail locations, but the scale of the program has not yet reached a level that matches MoneyGram's core business. Smaller fintech operators, including Veem and Pangea Money Transfer, support stablecoin payments, positioning them as alternatives to traditional wire transfer services. Western Union's scale provides an advantage, but success depends on execution rather than just distribution.

Key Success Factors and Failure Risks:

Education Cost: Converting non-encryption native users into wallet holders requires significant investment in customer education, and Western Union must demonstrate that this investment can generate a sufficient user conversion rate.

Regulatory Fragmentation: The EU's regulations on the crypto asset market set reserve and transparency requirements, while jurisdictions like India and China restrict or prohibit the use of stablecoins. Western Union needs to address compliance issues individually in over 200 markets.

Price Competition: If the total cost of USDPT (including wallet setup, transaction fees, and cash withdrawal fees) cannot be significantly lower than traditional remittances, users will have insufficient motivation to convert.

The partnership between Western Union and Anchorage Bank ensures that USDPT meets American banking standards, but the company must also comply with international regulations when launching its digital asset network across jurisdictions with different stablecoin rules. The success of USDPT will test whether a brand-focused, vertically integrated stablecoin infrastructure can drive mainstream adoption in areas where open protocols have not yet been realized. The outcome depends on whether Western Union's 100 million customers will adopt on-chain payments and whether the digital asset network can provide the reliability and cost savings needed to compete with traditional operators and crypto-native services.