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Western Union, which announced the creation of its USDPT stablecoin in October 2025, says it will launch the token in May. The company’s CEO, Devin McGranahan, confirmed the timing, with USDPT designed to be used first for payments and settlements rather than as a consumer product.
USDPT is scheduled to launch in May 2026 on Solana. The stablecoin will be issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, while Solana is set to serve as the settlement layer.
The first phase focuses on agent-to-agent settlements using Western Union’s internal system that moves funds between more than 500,000 partners worldwide. In this phase, USDPT is intended to replace SWIFT for these transfers, which Western Union describes as slower, more expensive, and limited by banking hours.
This is positioned as a large-scale test of whether blockchain infrastructure can operate at the same scale as traditional systems such as SWIFT.
The second phase is the Digital Asset Network (DAN), which is already starting with a first partner. DAN is designed to connect crypto wallets with more than 360,000 Western Union locations.
Under the model described, a user with a crypto wallet sends USDPT, and the recipient—without a wallet and without a bank account—withdraws cash from the nearest Western Union location. The approach is intended to address the conversion of crypto into cash for users who do not have banking access.
The third phase is the USD Stable Card, planned to launch later in 2026. It is described as operating through the Visa network and allowing payments in local currency while the balance remains in USDPT, again without requiring users to have a bank account.
Western Union’s rollout is described as market-specific, tied to where it already has agent networks and where dollar-based settlements are expected to reduce friction for senders and recipients.
The agent-based settlement system is identified for initial rollout in May across Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. The rationale given is that Western Union already has a well-developed agent network in these regions and that dollar-based settlements can reduce friction for both sides of a transfer.
The USD Stable Card, planned for later in 2026, is aimed at countries facing extreme inflation: Argentina, Turkey, and Venezuela. The stated premise is that holding value in dollars can provide immediate practical benefits where local currencies lose value quickly.
Mexico is included in more than one phase. After Western Union acquired the digital wallet Lana in March 2026, it secured direct access to users and local infrastructure, which the article says makes Mexico suitable for integrating both USDPT and the future Stable Card.
After launch, the most direct competitor to USDPT is described as PayPal’s stablecoin PYUSD. The article notes that PYUSD has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion and that it has declined by 18% over the past few months.
While both products are framed as supporting international money transfers, the article argues that PYUSD is aimed at users who already have access to dollars, a smartphone, and digital financial services. By contrast, USDPT is presented as targeting users who lack banking access and whose local currency is depreciating, with dollar access coming through Western Union agents.
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