Western Union Plans “Stable Card” to Shield Users From Sky-High Inflation

Money transfer company Western Union is planning to issue a new ‘stable card’ — a card which allows customers to hold and transact in stablecoins — aimed at allowing customers in high inflation economies to preserve the value of their remittances.

Such a card is needed in countries like Argentina, where inflation is so high workers can see almost half the value of remittances eroded in just a few weeks, Matthew Cagwin, Western Union’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, explained while speaking at the UBS Global Technology and AI Conference 2025 last week.

“So view this like an issuing card, but it would have a much stickier benefit in a country where there’s high inflation,” Cagwin said. 

“I have a big workforce in Argentina. Can you imagine living in a country where last year, your inflation was 250%, 300%. We gave our employees 4 raises last year because if you didn’t, they made — they couldn’t afford their bills.”

So imagine a world where your family in the U.S. is sending you $500 home, but by the time you spend it in the next month, it’s only worth $300. So we can see a good utility for our stable card there.

Matthew Cagwin, Western Union CFO

Western Union’s ‘stable card’ initiative is part of its broader stablecoin strategy, first announced in late October and showcased during the company’s Investor Day on November 6. Cagwin said the company’s new focus on stablecoins will free up liquidity currently locked up to facilitate money transfers, allowing the company to put more of its capital to work.

As you know, we’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars trapped in our business every day to be able to enable real-time payments. We think to be able to move to a stablecoin would allow us to pull that money out and actually free it up to use for other purposes.

Matthew Cagwin, Western Union CFO

Cagwin also discussed Western Union’s soon-to-be-launched Digital Asset Network (DAN), which has seen the company partner with numerous on- and off- ramp providers in order to ease the use of stablecoins on its payment network.

“We’ve now got partnerships with four different providers to be able to be an on-ramp, off-ramp with them. We expect to go live with them in the marketplace in the first half of next year,” Cagwin explained. 

“We’re excited about this because it allows us to get more foot traffic into our agents…and for the customer, it will feel and look just like a Western Union remittance transaction today.”

Related: IMF Warns Fragmented Global Rules Could Undermine Stablecoin Market Stability

Western Union to Launch its Own Dollar-backed Stablecoin

Another key plank in Western Union’s stablecoin strategy is the launch of its own dollar-backed stablecoin, known as the US Dollar Payment Token (USDPT). According to a statement from Western Union, the token will launch in the first half of 2026 on the Solana blockchain and will be issued by Anchorage Bank.

Cagwin said Western Union’s existing payment network — present in virtually every country on Earth — gives the new coin a good chance of adoption.

We think that we’ve got good distribution to the 200 countries around the world we’re in. But as you know, remittances are a large part of GDP for many countries we do operate in, and we’re usually one of the largest providers.

Matthew Cagwin, Western Union CFO

Related: Global Push Toward Stablecoins Accelerates as Banks, Visa, and Western Union Join the Race

Cagwin also highlighted the added control the company gets from creating its own stablecoin, rather than relying on another token, such as Circle’s USDC or Tether’s USDT.

“We think that we can make a market for our coin in those markets. And we wanted to be able to control the economics, control the compliance and control the overall distribution, and we think we can grow that beyond that,” he said.