Altcoin News: Western Union CEO: Money Transfers via Ripple Cost 5 Times More-??

June 24, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

Western Union Chief Executive Officer Hikmet Ersek said that his company was testing the technology of the American Fintech startup Ripple, but concluded that sending money using it turns out to be more expensive than using centralized solutions.

He made the corresponding statement during the Fortune magazine Brainstorm Finance conference.

“Sending money with Ripple is 5-times more expensive than with Western Union,” he said.

At the same time, Ersek acknowledged that digital currencies and blockchain as a mechanism for making payments have significant potential.

“We did a test with Ripple and we are still doing it. It’s still ongoing. We are looking at it and we are learning from Ripple,” he added.

Earlier this week it became known that Ripple invests up to $50 million in Western Union competitor MoneyGram, and that, in turn, will use XRP cryptocurrency in operating activities.

“MoneyGram needed something, and Ripple needed something, so it sounds like a good deal,” Ersek said, commenting on this collaboration — “We are in a different position. We have our own system for making calculations, which is extremely economical.”

In addition, the CEO of Western Union spoke about his attitude to the new cryptocurrency project Facebook, saying that he does not see Libra as a rival in the foreseeable future:

“The real cost is serving the customer in the last mile”, he said. “You have to be in the streets of Cairo, the streets of Nairobi. It took us many, many years to build a global system that moves $300 billion every year.”

In April, it became known about the beginning of Western Union cooperation with the Coins.ph cryptocurrency storage solution provider.

Author: Marko Vidrih