Western Union is developing a stablecoin-backed prepaid card aimed at recipients in countries suffering severe inflation, the company’s CFO Matthew Cagwin said at the UBS Global Technology and AI conference. The product is intended to help remittance recipients preserve value when local currencies rapidly lose purchasing power; Western Union cited Argentina—where inflation topped 200% last year—as a primary use case.
The program will be issued in partnership with exchange Rain and use Visa rails to enable cardholders to convert stablecoins held in Rain wallets into local cash at Western Union branches. Western Union is building on-ramps and off-ramps inside its digital asset network to accelerate settlement and reduce dependence on traditional banking rails. Cagwin said the company is working with multiple providers to assemble that infrastructure.
As part of its digital-asset roadmap, Western Union plans to launch the US Dollar Payment Token (USDPT) in 2026. USDPT is a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital on the Solana blockchain and will be integrated with the firm’s broader strategy for digital payments. The prepaid card is designed to act as a bridge between stablecoins and everyday spending: remittance funds would be loaded onto dollar-denominated cards that can be used at merchant terminals or cashed out at Western Union locations.
The move represents a notable shift for Western Union, which historically took a skeptical view of cryptocurrencies. In 2017 the company’s then-CTO questioned Bitcoin’s suitability as a currency over governance, compliance and stability concerns. That posture evolved in late 2025 as regulatory frameworks clarified; CEO Devin McGranahan said previous caution was driven by worries about volatility, uncertain rules and customer protection.
Separately, Pakistan has announced plans for its first stablecoin and is pursuing central bank digital currency initiatives. Bilal Bin Saqib, chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, said the country intends to leverage digital assets to support government debt issuance and foster broader financial innovation. He pointed to earlier steps such as a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and infrastructure allocations for mining and AI as part of that broader push.
Taken together, these developments illustrate growing institutional interest in tokenized dollars and programmable rails to protect remittance value and streamline cross-border flows in economies exposed to high inflation.