Western Union Readies Solana Stablecoin and Visa-Backed 'Stable Card' for 40-Plus Countries
Western Union Readies Solana Stablecoin and Visa-Backed ‘Stable Card’ for 40-Plus Countries #
Western Union plans to launch a proprietary dollar-pegged token and a consumer prepaid card that will let recipients spend and cash out stablecoins at its global agent network.
CEO and President Devin McGranahan confirmed that the company’s U.S. Dollar Payment Token, branded USDPT, is in final preparation and could debut as early as May 2026. The token will run on the Solana blockchain, which Western Union selected for its low transaction fees and ability to handle the high volume of small-value transfers common in remittance corridors. Anchorage Digital Bank, a federally chartered digital asset bank, will issue USDPT.
The Stable Card, a prepaid product co-developed with Rain, an enterprise stablecoin infrastructure firm, and Visa, is designed to let remittance recipients hold funds in USDPT instead of converting immediately to local currency, then spend or withdraw at any Visa-accepting merchant or ATM. Western Union’s network of more than 360,000 cash-out locations across more than 200 countries and territories provides a physical off-ramp that most digital stablecoin wallets do not have. The Stable Card is planned for rollout later in 2026 across more than 40 countries.
Speaking at the UBS Global Technology and AI conference, Western Union CFO Matthew Cagwin cited Argentina as a primary use case. Annual inflation there has run into the hundreds of percent, and remittance recipients could store inbound funds in dollar-denominated USDPT to protect savings from local currency depreciation, converting only what they need for everyday spending.
Rain, which is a Visa Principal Member and describes itself as a global stablecoin infrastructure platform serving more than 150 organisations, has joined Western Union’s Digital Asset Network, the company’s broader B2B settlement layer. Rain will provide the wallet and conversion technology that connects on-chain assets to Western Union’s retail locations. The company said the partnership links “onchain value to local retail locations customers already use.”
Western Union built its business on fiat money movement. The stablecoin and card products represent an effort to rebuild the company’s underlying settlement infrastructure around digital dollar rails rather than simply adding a crypto product on top of existing systems.
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