{ "title": "Western Union on The Bitcoin Group: A Decade of Calls", "generated_at": "2026-05-08", "anchors": [ { "id": "first-mention", "date": "2013-11-15", "ep": 5, "headline": "Andreas Antonopoulos says the dominoes are coming", "subhead": "On the fifth episode of The Bitcoin Group, Andreas Antonopoulos named Western Union as the first legacy domino remittance-Bitcoin would knock over.", "panel": "Andreas Antonopoulos, Megan Lourdes, Will Pangman, Davi Barker — Thomas Hunt host", "context": "TBG #5 aired November 15, 2013. Bitcoin was around $400. The remittance-disruption thesis was already on tape: \"if we start to see remittances being successful and suddenly some of the companies involved in that, like Western Union, start to feel threatened. When we start knocking down the dominoes of the old economy, that's when they start reacting badly.\"", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-005.html", "yt": "iStxen0z40Q", "btc_price": 405 }, { "id": "pivot-predicted", "date": "2016-04-29", "ep": 93, "headline": "Paul Puyi calls the pivot", "subhead": "Western Union had just invested in Digital Currency Group. The panel asked whether it was their Yahoo-Alibaba moment. Paul Puyi said no — Western Union itself would absorb the new tech.", "panel": "Tone Vays, Paul Puyi, Thomas Hunt", "context": "Episode #93, titled \"Mycelium, Japan, The $136,000 Fee and Western Union Invests,\" was the first time the show forecast Western Union not as a remittance corpse but as a remittance pivot. Tone Vays argued WU should replace tellers with Bitcoin ATMs. Paul Puyi said the company would \"slurp up some of those ideas and projects and just incorporate them into their business portfolio.\" That is exactly the shape of USDPT, ten years later.", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-093.html", "yt": "LrWG7_mJ-m0", "btc_price": 449 }, { "id": "today", "date": "2026-05-04", "ep": null, "headline": "USDPT launches on Solana", "subhead": "Issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, secured on Fireblocks, rolling out first in the Philippines and Bolivia. CEO Devin McGranahan: \"a more efficient settlement layer that supports partners, agents and future consumer use cases.\"", "panel": null, "context": "On May 4, 2026, Western Union announced USDPT, a U.S. dollar-denominated payment stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank N.A. and built on Solana. Treasury and agent settlement is the first use; a consumer-facing wallet branded \"Stable by Western Union\" is targeted for 40+ countries through 2026. The company that TBG named as the textbook legacy-finance loser is now voluntarily building on Bitcoin-adjacent rails.", "url": "https://ir.westernunion.com/news/archived-press-releases/press-release-details/2026/Western-Union-Launches-USDPT-on-Solana-Advancing-Regulated-Digital-Infrastructure-for-Global-Payments/default.aspx", "btc_price": null } ], "roll_call": [ { "name": "Paul Puyi", "handle": "TBG panel · 2016", "verdict": "Called the pivot", "rank": 1, "ep": 93, "ep_date": "2016-04-29", "ep_title": "TBG #93 — Mycelium, Japan, The $136,000 Fee and Western Union Invests", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-093.html", "quote": "And probably no, it's actually Western Union that's going to slurp up some of those ideas and projects and just incorporate them into their business portfolio. And so that could be the reason why they invest.", "verbatim": true, "summary": "Ten years and four days before USDPT launched on Solana, Paul Puyi predicted the corporate logic exactly: Western Union would not be killed; it would absorb. The DCG investment in 2016 was the early signal. The 2026 stablecoin is the move it foreshadowed." }, { "name": "Jimmy Song", "handle": "@jimmysong", "verdict": "Called the pivot", "rank": 2, "ep": 476, "ep_date": "2025-12-27", "ep_title": "TBG #476 — 2026 Surge? · Putin Power · MOMA NFTs · Caroline Released", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-476.html", "quote": "For me, stable coins are kind of like Western Union 2.0, something like that. A lot of people like it for that reason.", "verbatim": true, "summary": "Five months before USDPT shipped, Jimmy Song reframed the entire stablecoin category as \"Western Union 2.0.\" The framing turned out to be more than rhetorical: Western Union's own pivot is, literally, a stablecoin." }, { "name": "Thomas Hunt", "handle": "@MadBitcoins", "verdict": "Called the pivot", "rank": 3, "ep": 275, "ep_date": "2021-09-12", "ep_title": "TBG #275 — El Salvador · Coinbase SEC · Western Union · Blockstream Mining", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-275.html", "quote": "There's still hope for you Western Union. Most of your stores you could probably replace with a series of Bitcoin ATMs with better instructions and manuals... if Western Union money gram any of the competitors can take this idea convert to a Bitcoin and now we'll just adopt the new language a lightning network solution they could send payments for cheap.", "verbatim": true, "summary": "The host's open letter, five years before USDPT. Thomas laid out the playbook: real estate, agent network, kiosks — keep all of it, swap the rails. Western Union didn't choose Lightning, but it did choose Solana, and the architecture lines up with what he described." }, { "name": "Andreas Antonopoulos", "handle": "@aantonop", "verdict": "Said WU would die", "rank": 4, "ep": 5, "ep_date": "2013-11-15", "ep_title": "TBG #5 — Bitcoin Aid · Bitcoin $400 · Bitcoin Hacked", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-005.html", "quote": "If we start to see remittances being successful and suddenly some of the companies involved in that, like Western Union, start to feel threatened. When we start knocking down the dominoes of the old economy, that's when they start reacting badly.", "verbatim": true, "summary": "The earliest TBG mention of Western Union as a target. Andreas framed the move as a domino fall — Western Union would feel threatened, then react. Half-right: WU did feel threatened. The reaction was the opposite of dying. It built." }, { "name": "Tone Vays", "handle": "@ToneVays", "verdict": "Said WU should adapt", "rank": 5, "ep": 93, "ep_date": "2016-04-29", "ep_title": "TBG #93 — Mycelium, Japan, The $136,000 Fee and Western Union Invests", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-093.html", "quote": "I think there's still a chance for Western Union here. I've said before I like the RoboCoin idea of a kiosk in one country and a kiosk in another country. Western Union could replace all of their tellers with automatic machines.", "verbatim": true, "summary": "Same episode as Puyi. Tone Vays said the kiosk-and-rails play out loud — replace tellers with automatic machines, route on Bitcoin. The 2026 USDPT architecture (agent settlement on Solana) is the wholesale version of what he described retail." }, { "name": "Dan Eve", "handle": "@thecryptoraptor", "verdict": "Said WU would die unless it adapted", "rank": 6, "ep": 193, "ep_date": "2019-03-01", "ep_title": "TBG #193 — #DeleteCoinbase · FacebookCoin · Bitcoin vs. Western Union", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-193.html", "quote": "Unless they adopt Bitcoin themselves and they may become the blockbuster of international remittance, you know, that they charge quite a lot in terms of percentages.", "verbatim": true, "summary": "On the show's first standalone Western Union episode, Dan Eve drew the binary cleanly: adapt or be the next Blockbuster. WU adapted. The Blockbuster comparison no longer fits — this version of the company chose to evolve." }, { "name": "Victoria Jones", "handle": "Satoshi's Page", "verdict": "Said WU would die", "rank": 7, "ep": 370, "ep_date": "2023-08-11", "ep_title": "TBG #370 — PayPal Stablecoin · ETF Approval? · Miner's Millions", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-370.html", "quote": "Andreas always said it's about the unbanked... people sending their paycheck home with western union losing amounts to fees, people with an uncertain currency driven up and downwards — that's who it's really about.", "verbatim": true, "summary": "Echo of the 2013 thesis ten years later. Victoria framed Bitcoin/Lightning as the replacement for Western Union in remittance corridors like the Philippines. Less prescient about the pivot — more right about the people who were paying the fees." }, { "name": "TBG editorial close", "handle": "Show signoff · 2013 [VERIFY speaker]", "verdict": "Said WU would die unless it adapted", "rank": 8, "ep": 8, "ep_date": "2013-12-06", "ep_title": "TBG #8 — China Banks · Two Crashes · Sheep Marketplace", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-008.html", "quote": "Western Union, the venerable telegraph and money order business founded in 1851, will not live to see its 200th birthday if it does not adapt to modern times, dramatically reduce fees and switch to Bitcoin. If the dinosaurs do not evolve, they will be turned into fossil fuel.", "verbatim": true, "verbatim_note": "Read at the close of TBG #8 as the show's editorial signoff. Speaker not separately attributed in transcript; likely Thomas Hunt narrating.", "summary": "The show's literal closing line of episode #8 — the editorial frame that the next twelve years of WU coverage would refine. The 200th birthday is 2051. Western Union just earned itself a path to it." } ], "quote_wall": [ { "quote": "If we start to see remittances being successful and suddenly some of the companies involved in that, like Western Union, start to feel threatened. When we start knocking down the dominoes of the old economy, that's when they start reacting badly.", "speaker": "Andreas Antonopoulos", "ep": 5, "ep_date": "2013-11-15", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-005.html" }, { "quote": "Western Union, the venerable telegraph and money order business founded in 1851, will not live to see its 200th birthday if it does not adapt to modern times, dramatically reduce fees and switch to Bitcoin. If the dinosaurs do not evolve, they will be turned into fossil fuel.", "speaker": "TBG #8 editorial close", "ep": 8, "ep_date": "2013-12-06", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-008.html" }, { "quote": "He also claimed the death of Western Union and PayPal again. So good to see. Did you give it timeline? They have a big one coming up. Unless they change to being a Bitcoin company.", "speaker": "TBG #10 panel", "ep": 10, "ep_date": "2013-12-20", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-010.html" }, { "quote": "Probably no, it's actually Western Union that's going to slurp up some of those ideas and projects and just incorporate them into their business portfolio.", "speaker": "Paul Puyi", "ep": 93, "ep_date": "2016-04-29", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-093.html" }, { "quote": "I think there's still a chance for Western Union here... Western Union could replace all of their tellers with automatic machines. The automatic machines you put cash in, it converts it to Bitcoin, sends it to another country, converts it back into pesos.", "speaker": "Tone Vays", "ep": 93, "ep_date": "2016-04-29", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-093.html" }, { "quote": "There's no reason to have Western Union. There's no reason even for them to have a clever kiosk... When you can buy $20 of Bitcoin from your friend at breakfast, send it to your friend in Venezuela by dinner time. Why would you need to go to a Western Union office?", "speaker": "Thomas Hunt", "ep": 193, "ep_date": "2019-03-01", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-193.html" }, { "quote": "Unless they adopt Bitcoin themselves they may become the blockbuster of international remittance.", "speaker": "Dan Eve", "ep": 193, "ep_date": "2019-03-01", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-193.html" }, { "quote": "Western Union must be quaking in their boots right now... they'd be the blockbuster of remittances if they just let Bitcoin slip by them and not actually try to do something and enter the market.", "speaker": "Dan Eve", "ep": 278, "ep_date": "2021-10-08", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-278.html" }, { "quote": "There's still hope for you Western Union. Most of your stores you could probably replace with a series of Bitcoin ATMs.", "speaker": "Thomas Hunt", "ep": 275, "ep_date": "2021-09-12", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-275.html" }, { "quote": "Western Union could already be offering their service at nothing if they had switched to the Bitcoin or the lightning network years ago. Adapting to new technologies instead they waited.", "speaker": "TBG #264 panel", "ep": 264, "ep_date": "2021-06-19", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-264.html" }, { "quote": "We've talked about the decline of western union and the rise of Bitcoin and lightning for years and years and years and now it might actually happen.", "speaker": "Thomas Hunt", "ep": 370, "ep_date": "2023-08-11", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-370.html" }, { "quote": "For me, stable coins are kind of like Western Union 2.0, something like that.", "speaker": "Jimmy Song", "ep": 476, "ep_date": "2025-12-27", "ep_url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-476.html" } ], "wu_stock": [ { "date": "2013-12-31", "close": 17.18, "label": "End of 2013 — TBG #8 calls the dinosaur" }, { "date": "2014-12-31", "close": 17.92, "label": "End of 2014" }, { "date": "2015-12-31", "close": 17.91, "label": "End of 2015" }, { "date": "2016-12-30", "close": 21.69, "label": "End of 2016 — DCG investment year" }, { "date": "2017-12-29", "close": 19.01, "label": "End of 2017" }, { "date": "2018-12-31", "close": 17.02, "label": "End of 2018" }, { "date": "2019-12-31", "close": 26.79, "label": "End of 2019 — multi-year high" }, { "date": "2020-02-10", "close": 18.37, "label": "All-time high $18.37" }, { "date": "2020-12-31", "close": 23.71, "label": "End of 2020" }, { "date": "2021-12-31", "close": 17.85, "label": "End of 2021" }, { "date": "2022-12-30", "close": 13.74, "label": "End of 2022" }, { "date": "2023-12-29", "close": 12.34, "label": "End of 2023" }, { "date": "2024-12-31", "close": 10.72, "label": "End of 2024" }, { "date": "2025-12-31", "close": 8.92, "label": "End of 2025 [VERIFY approximate]" }, { "date": "2026-04-01", "close": 8.46, "label": "April 2026 — pre-USDPT" } ], "btc_price": [ { "date": "2013-11-15", "close": 405 }, { "date": "2013-12-31", "close": 733 }, { "date": "2014-12-31", "close": 320 }, { "date": "2015-12-31", "close": 430 }, { "date": "2016-04-29", "close": 449 }, { "date": "2016-12-31", "close": 963 }, { "date": "2017-12-31", "close": 13860 }, { "date": "2018-12-31", "close": 3742 }, { "date": "2019-12-31", "close": 7193 }, { "date": "2020-12-31", "close": 28994 }, { "date": "2021-12-31", "close": 46306 }, { "date": "2022-12-31", "close": 16542 }, { "date": "2023-12-31", "close": 42258 }, { "date": "2024-12-31", "close": 93714 }, { "date": "2025-12-31", "close": 102000 }, { "date": "2026-01-31", "close": 82000 }, { "date": "2026-05-04", "close": 95000 } ], "fees_compare": [ { "label": "Western Union (international, $200, historic average)", "fee_usd": 12.00, "fee_pct": 6.0, "kind": "wu" }, { "label": "Western Union (international, $200, low-fee corridor 2024)", "fee_usd": 6.00, "fee_pct": 3.0, "kind": "wu" }, { "label": "MoneyGram online ($200)", "fee_usd": 4.99, "fee_pct": 2.5, "kind": "wu" }, { "label": "USDC on Solana ($200)", "fee_usd": 0.00025, "fee_pct": 0.0001, "kind": "crypto" }, { "label": "USDC on Polygon ($200)", "fee_usd": 0.01, "fee_pct": 0.005, "kind": "crypto" }, { "label": "Lightning Network ($200, BTC denominated)", "fee_usd": 0.10, "fee_pct": 0.05, "kind": "crypto" } ], "year_counts": [ { "year": "2013", "episodes": 3 }, { "year": "2014", "episodes": 5 }, { "year": "2015", "episodes": 1 }, { "year": "2016", "episodes": 6 }, { "year": "2017", "episodes": 2 }, { "year": "2018", "episodes": 0 }, { "year": "2019", "episodes": 1 }, { "year": "2020", "episodes": 1 }, { "year": "2021", "episodes": 6 }, { "year": "2022", "episodes": 2 }, { "year": "2023", "episodes": 2 }, { "year": "2024", "episodes": 2 }, { "year": "2025", "episodes": 2 }, { "year": "2026", "episodes": 1 } ], "episode_points": [ { "ep": 5, "date": "2013-11-15", "title": "Bitcoin Aid · Bitcoin $400 · Bitcoin Hacked", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-005.html" }, { "ep": 8, "date": "2013-12-06", "title": "China Banks · Two Crashes · Sheep Marketplace", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-008.html" }, { "ep": 10, "date": "2013-12-20", "title": "2013 Year End Awards Spectacular", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-010.html" }, { "ep": 12, "date": "2014-01-10", "title": "Overstock & Bitcoin · DitchGhash · IRS Bitcoin", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-012.html" }, { "ep": 15, "date": "2014-02-21", "title": "NY Hearings · Civil Forfeiture", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-015.html" }, { "ep": 18, "date": "2014-03-14", "title": "Mt. Gox part III · Newsweek Satoshi", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-018.html" }, { "ep": 29, "date": "2014-05-09", "title": "Bitcoins for Politics · DOJ's Choke Point · Dogecar", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-029.html" }, { "ep": 30, "date": "2014-05-17", "title": "FCC Net Neutrality · Bitcoin Ebay PayPal", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-030.html" }, { "ep": 58, "date": "2014-12-19", "title": "Kraken rescues Mt. Gox · Western Union Parody · NSA", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-058.html" }, { "ep": 59, "date": "2015-01-09", "title": "Bitcoin Bill · Bitcoin Genesis Block", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-059.html" }, { "ep": 71, "date": "2015-07-03", "title": "Greece · Kleiner Perkins · Reddit", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-071.html" }, { "ep": 84, "date": "2016-01-15", "title": "Mike Hearn tries to kill Bitcoin", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-084.html" }, { "ep": 93, "date": "2016-04-29", "title": "Mycelium · $136,000 Fee · Western Union Invests", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-093.html" }, { "ep": 101, "date": "2016-07-08", "title": "Steem Hacked · Ethereum", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-101.html" }, { "ep": 102, "date": "2016-07-22", "title": "Ether Hard Fork · Bitcoin Halving", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-102.html" }, { "ep": 103, "date": "2016-07-29", "title": "Ethereum Classic · Steem", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-103.html" }, { "ep": 109, "date": "2016-09-23", "title": "Mr. Robot Bitcoin · Ripple", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-109.html" }, { "ep": 130, "date": "2017-04-07", "title": "Bitcoin All Time High", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-130.html" }, { "ep": 131, "date": "2017-04-14", "title": "Satoshi Patents · Bitcoin", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-131.html" }, { "ep": 193, "date": "2019-03-01", "title": "#DeleteCoinbase · FacebookCoin · Bitcoin vs. Western Union", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-193.html" }, { "ep": 238, "date": "2020-11-13", "title": "Unblockable Income · Coinbase", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-238.html" }, { "ep": 264, "date": "2021-06-19", "title": "Elon Jack Off · $15K Bo · Bitcoin Mining", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-264.html" }, { "ep": 273, "date": "2021-08-27", "title": "$30K or $100K · Hashrate", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-273.html" }, { "ep": 275, "date": "2021-09-12", "title": "El Salvador · Coinbase SEC · Western Union · Blockstream Mining", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-275.html" }, { "ep": 277, "date": "2021-09-25", "title": "China Ban Again · Twitter Tipping", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-277.html" }, { "ep": 278, "date": "2021-10-08", "title": "Bank of America · Tether Trouble · SEC ETF", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-278.html" }, { "ep": 290, "date": "2022-01-07", "title": "Prices Fall · Kazakhstan · NFTs", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-290.html" }, { "ep": 355, "date": "2023-04-22", "title": "Bitcoin $28,000 · Coinbase Bermuda · Lightning", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-355.html" }, { "ep": 370, "date": "2023-08-11", "title": "PayPal Stablecoin · ETF Approval · Miner's Millions", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-370.html" }, { "ep": 405, "date": "2024-04-27", "title": "Samourai Charged · Code Leak · Post Halving", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-405.html" }, { "ep": 426, "date": "2024-10-12", "title": "Peter Todd Satoshi? · Uptober · Logic Invested", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-426.html" }, { "ep": 447, "date": "2025-03-22", "title": "Recovery? · Crypto Capitol · Rap Theft", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-447.html" }, { "ep": 476, "date": "2025-12-27", "title": "2026 Surge? · Putin Power · MOMA NFTs", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-476.html" }, { "ep": 480, "date": "2026-01-31", "title": "$82,000 · $1B Binance · New Fed Chair · UAE Bank", "url": "/tbg-mirrors/transcripts/TBG-480.html" } ], "today_announcement": { "headline": "Western Union Launches USDPT on Solana", "date": "2026-05-04", "ceo": "Devin McGranahan", "verbatim_quote": "USDPT reinforces Western Union's role as a global payments platform. By integrating a regulated digital dollar directly into our network, we're creating a more efficient settlement layer that supports partners, agents and future consumer use cases — all while preserving the trust and scale that define our brand.", "issuer": "Anchorage Digital Bank N.A.", "infrastructure": "Fireblocks", "chain": "Solana", "first_markets": ["Philippines", "Bolivia"], "consumer_product": "Stable by Western Union (40+ countries, 2026 rollout)", "primary_url": "https://ir.westernunion.com/news/archived-press-releases/press-release-details/2026/Western-Union-Launches-USDPT-on-Solana-Advancing-Regulated-Digital-Infrastructure-for-Global-Payments/default.aspx", "press_alt_url": "https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260504531737/en/Western-Union-Launches-USDPT-on-Solana-Advancing-Regulated-Digital-Infrastructure-for-Global-Payments", "coverage": [ "https://decrypt.co/366677/western-union-usdpt-stablecoin-solana-anchorage-digital", "https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/05/05/western-union-s-solana-based-stablecoin-could-reshape-its-payment-model-analyst-says", "https://www.americanbanker.com/news/western-union-launches-its-own-stablecoin" ] } }