Western Union to launch Solana-based USDPT in MAy

Western Union will roll out its dollar-backed stablecoin, USDPT (U.S. Dollar Payment Token), next month on the Solana blockchain, initially as a settlement tool for agent partners rather than a fully-fledged retail consumer product.

The launch had already been planned for the first half of 2026 since last year, and it brings Western Union closer to its goal of contributing further to restructuring cross-border settlement architecture globally. The company also aims to release two other innovative products, namely The Digital Asset Network (DAN), and the USD Stable Card.

Plans to launch the USDPT stablecoin were revealed in October 2025, as reported by Cryptopolitan. CEO Devin McGranahan confirmed the timeline during the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call on April 24. “At the foundation of our strategy is USDPT, our U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin,” McGranahan told analysts, “It is no longer a question of if Western Union will be active in digital assets; it is now how fast we can scale.”

Western Union’s USDPT focuses on settlements first

USDPT will not launch as a retail product. McGranahan said the token will serve as an alternative to SWIFT for settling transactions between Western Union and its agent network in select countries. On-chain settlement would allow transfers to process 24/7, including on weekends and banking holidays when traditional banks go offline.

The USDPT token will be issued by the Anchorage Digital Bank, a federally chartered crypto custodian. Western Union first disclosed the partnership with Anchorage and Solana in October 2025, along with the stablecoin reveal, and has since filed a trademark for “WUUSD,” per the Crypto Times report.

The company has claimed that USDPT will allow it to capture revenue that would have otherwise flowed to third-party stablecoin issuers, including income from issuance, exchange spreads, transaction fees, and float on reserves.

The Digital Asset Network and USD Stable Card companion products

The Digital Asset Network (DAN) will connect crypto wallets to Western Union’s retail and agent footprint through a single API. The company said the first DAN partner would go live the week of April 27, with seven or more partners expected to activate throughout the rest of 2026. “Through DAN, millions of wallet users will be able to move from digital assets into local currency using Western Union’s retail network,” McGranahan said. Western Union operates in more than 200 countries with hundreds of thousands of agent locations, giving the network a distribution advantage that most crypto-native stablecoin projects lack.

The second product is the USD Stable Card, a payment card that lets consumers hold stablecoins and spend them globally. The card is planned for launch later in 2026 across dozens of markets. The Stable Card is expected to act as an easy-to-assess method to spend stablecoins, particularly in inflation-sensitive markets. Western Union has not disclosed the specific launch markets or its card network partner for the Stable Card.

Western Union enters competitive field

Dollar-pegged stablecoins now exceed $300 billion in total market capitalization, and the GENIUS Act, signed into law in 2025, has given U.S.-issued tokens a clearer regulatory footing. Western Union is not the only legacy payments company building on Solana. PayPal’s PYUSD, issued by Paxos, has grown into the multi-billion dollar range. Fiserv is rolling out its own Solana-based stablecoin, FIUSD. MoneyGram has also integrated Circle’s USDC on the Stellar blockchain for its mobile app, and Visa has expanded stablecoin settlement support to Solana.

Solana processed $650 billion in adjusted stablecoin volume in a single month earlier this year, making it one of the fastest-growing settlement networks by transaction volume.

The pilot rollout during the launch in multiple select countries will be the first test of whether USDPT can significantly reduce settlement costs and processing times enough to justify the infrastructure shift and make an impact on the competition. The identities of the initial agent partners and DAN’s first wallet integration, along with The Stable Card’s launch markets and network partner, remain undisclosed.

Those details will determine whether Western Union’s stablecoin strategy reaches meaningful scale and achieves the impact intended by the company since the launch announcement.

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