WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:02.399 The race is on, it seems like, what's it like 2 00:00:02.439 --> 00:00:05.280 from your perspective to see the race and who's running 3 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:06.160 in parallel with you. 4 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:08.919 You have to leverage what you do as a fundamental business. 5 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:12.359 We have over one hundred and something million customers where 6 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:15.359 we can now issue cards to that don't have them today. 7 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:17.480 It's not about a race to who can do the 8 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:20.160 first coin or who can do the first blockchain. It's 9 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:23.480 who can furnish the first use cases. If we can 10 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:26.679 go to an emerging country and emerging space Saturdays under 11 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:29.679 banks on Nerve Bank and give them digital music cards 12 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:32.479 that they can get funded to from loved ones you've 13 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:34.719 serviced the use case stand that they have a need 14 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:36.960 versus we've got a coin in the blockchain. 15 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.399 Yeah, let's go. I don't think that's the race. 16 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:46.960 This episode is brought to you by Uphold, which is 17 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:50.000 a great crypto platform that makes it easy to buy, sell, 18 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:54.960 and stay crypto assets. Uphold has over three hundred plus cryptocurrencies, 19 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:57.880 including Bitcoin in all the top all coins, and they 20 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:02.439 offer a crypto staking on over nineteen crypto assets. 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And the stable coins that they support 32 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:39.719 includes Ripples, r L USD. You can earn up the 33 00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:43.000 five percent on that stable coin and five point two 34 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:46.120 five percent on USBC. So if you do like to 35 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:49.079 learn more about Uphold and all the great services they offer, 36 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:52.359 visit the link in the description. Hey everyone, welcome into 37 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:55.079 the Thinking Crypto podcast. I'm your host Tony Edward and 38 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:58.280 we are recording at Station three in New York's Financial District. 39 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:00.840 And joining me is Malcolm Clark, who is the VP 40 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:05.120 of Digital Assets at Western Union. Malcolm, great to have you. 41 00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:07.439 Thank you for inviting me. This is exciting. 42 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:10.520 Yeah, Malcolm, I am excited because we were talking before 43 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:12.919 the recording. I've been a user of Western Union for 44 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:15.919 many years, you know, sending money to my family overseas, 45 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.199 and to see Western Union launch a stable coin and 46 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:22.719 embracing blockchain is so fascinating. So I'm excited to learn 47 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:25.319 the details from you. Maybe we can kick it off 48 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:27.080 with your background. Tell us a bit about where you 49 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:28.800 grew up in what's your professional background? 50 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:32.039 Sure, so I grew up in Manchester in the UK, 51 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:37.319 so like yourself, not a traditional US kid background wise. 52 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:40.560 You know, had a very interesting early career in telecoms, 53 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:44.400 so working on the first mobile apps, first Blackberries, which 54 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:46.960 was interesting. So that's going to age me right now, 55 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:49.759 So now you're talking to an older guy. Then had 56 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:52.840 an opportunity to move to North America through Canada, so 57 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:55.840 worked for TD Banking Canada, where I built out the 58 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.919 first digital asset network. So a number of years ago, 59 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:02.159 already playing in the blockchain space of how do you 60 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:06.360 secure privacy by design your essential identity and share it 61 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:10.199 with others on a blockchain through hyper ledger, so partnership 62 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:12.919 with the major banks there and then really having what 63 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:15.520 you wouldcord with not in party sort of store, and 64 00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:17.800 then the banks you would log in and provide your 65 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:19.919 identity to those stores or to the government in a 66 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:23.840 secure manner. So after that, had the opportunity to move 67 00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:26.960 to San Francisco with Zell early Warning to build out 68 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:30.560 a very similar identity platform, working through the Zel ecosystems, 69 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:34.000 and then found myself going through a Japanese bank running 70 00:03:34.039 --> 00:03:37.199 AI services and landed out Western Union about eight months ago, 71 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.560 where I picked up ecosystems, which is the digital wallets 72 00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:44.439 and digital assets. So working through that journey and bringing 73 00:03:45.080 --> 00:03:48.400 Western Unions. You said, a traditional moni transmit company, your 74 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:53.080 global footprint, lots of people use us into a crypto 75 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:56.879 asset digital asset space. So yeah, very interesting time. And 76 00:03:57.159 --> 00:03:59.439 stable coins and the genius actor has really been that 77 00:03:59.479 --> 00:04:01.800 catalyst to start really pushing after this stuff. 78 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:05.599 Oh absolutely. And in your journey in the banking finance, 79 00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:08.120 payments world, you mentioned you were a TD bank and 80 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:10.599 starting to set things up with digital assets and so forth. 81 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:14.599 How did you hear about bigcoin or blockchain and was 82 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:17.959 it a natural thing for you to recognize it and say, hey, 83 00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:19.480 you know, this looks like it's the future. 84 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:23.680 It's interesting because you know, back then, much like stable 85 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:25.800 coins now, they've been around for a while so this 86 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:28.600 isn't some new thing that suddenly has become you know, 87 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:31.000 it's a good buzzword, it's a trend at the moment. 88 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:34.519 So that's great, and it's driving adoption back then reusing 89 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:37.120 R three quorder and doing things with the bank accounts. 90 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:38.879 So how do you use a smart contract to move 91 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:44.319 funds between institutions? So almost into that you know, tokenized 92 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:46.920 deposit space as you recall it, now, how are you 93 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:51.120 using you know, those smart contracts to you know, essentially 94 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:55.600 move funding. Then at the time, we're in a space 95 00:04:55.639 --> 00:04:57.879 where the banks are looking at how do you add 96 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:00.759 additional service? So you have a depart that account, you 97 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:03.600 have your mortgage, you have these traditional finances. You know, 98 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:06.040 what is the trends at the moment and how can 99 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:09.000 you add those services to the banks of payments are 100 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:11.959 always you know, you've always had two issues with payments. 101 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:16.279 One is speed, the second is security and safety. So 102 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:19.399 speed is solved with you know, the Interact network did 103 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:23.319 same day deposit, you know, email transfers. Safety security was 104 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:25.920 really driven around identity and saying, okay, if you can 105 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:28.680 add an identity to the payment, create that token as 106 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:31.439 a safe, secure token between the banks. Then are you 107 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:33.720 in a better place. So the answer is yes, So 108 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:36.160 what's the technology that could do that? And that's where 109 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:39.519 you get to well, blockchains evolving, it's, you know, one 110 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:41.079 of the blue chips of the bank. So what can 111 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:43.240 we do in blockchain? How can we leverage are three? 112 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:46.199 How can we leverage hyper lecture, how can we leverage bitpoint? 113 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:49.519 So it's really a natural evolution of saying the blockchain 114 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:53.279 and ails for immutable digital movement of things in a 115 00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:56.759 secure manner. It means every other bank can't see the identity, 116 00:05:56.839 --> 00:05:59.240 the government can't see the identity unless they need it, 117 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:02.680 and the consumer permissions it. So it's really natural how 118 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:05.839 I got into that space and started working with the 119 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:08.680 payment network, the un NCY network and the safety security 120 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:10.959 and pulling them together. So it wasn't you wake up 121 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.560 one morning like that seems to be the path, let's 122 00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:14.000 do this. 123 00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:14.839 It doesn't. 124 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:17.759 It has to be more natural evolution otherwise it just 125 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:20.160 becomes a buzz and a trend and it drops off. 126 00:06:20.519 --> 00:06:24.439 So it's got to have real foundation in utility, use 127 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:26.040 case and why you would do this? 128 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:30.439 Oh, absolutely, and that totally makes sense in discovering the 129 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:33.879 use cases and the utility and you know you mentioned 130 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:36.839 using hyper ledger fabric and that is more of a 131 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:40.680 permission private chain, but there are public blockchains. Do you 132 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:44.600 see that the future will include both, Like institutions will 133 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:47.600 have their own internal chain so to speak, but they're 134 00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:48.879 maybe bridging to public chain. 135 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:53.480 Yeah, I think like institutions, So you're talking Canada's five 136 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:58.759 major banks nine years ago created a permissioned private blockchain 137 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:05.000 on Hyperlagure. So innovation kind of at the forefront nine 138 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:08.199 years ago. So banks have continued to evolve. So permission 139 00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:11.680 based blockchains, permission based tokenization of assets, that's the thing, 140 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:13.879 that's what they do today. Our three quarter has been 141 00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:16.959 around for a long time. I think that will continue. 142 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:21.079 So the banks will continue to store tokenized assets, it 143 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:25.480 will continue to store tokenized stock or those types of things. 144 00:07:26.199 --> 00:07:30.639 They are fundamentally localized. Banks like global banks still have 145 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:35.000 localization stable coins and those public blockchains. They're really the 146 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:37.399 speed on top. So they're the edge and that's where 147 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:39.439 you're going to see the innovation you're seeing now in 148 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:42.399 the driving with the permissions of the genius acts and things. 149 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:45.560 How do I take that tokenization that's going to work 150 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:48.959 on the institutional layer and how do wallets really leverage 151 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:52.120 that to move things quickly internationally? So banks still work, 152 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:55.680 you know, five days a week, nine to five weekends. 153 00:07:55.720 --> 00:07:59.199 Another thing, commerce runs twenty four to seven. So that's 154 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:01.560 where you see you know, the stable coin and the 155 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:04.519 public stuff and the permission stuff, they will layer on 156 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:06.680 top of each other because still institutions are going to 157 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.160 need you need to move large money around. You know, 158 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:14.199 large money movements are you know, their permission, they're regulated, 159 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:18.000 that governed, they're protected. Fast movement is protected by the 160 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:21.079 organizations that move it. And in that manner, So I 161 00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:23.480 think they both come together and they stay together. I 162 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:25.000 don't think it's one or the other. I don't think 163 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.079 you're going to see quickly, at least large institutions moving 164 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:34.480 the treasury between two ginormous institutions on a public work chain. 165 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:37.000 It's just you know, there's no need to do that. 166 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:39.080 There's the value of doing that. The benefit of doing 167 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:39.879 that is just not there. 168 00:08:40.519 --> 00:08:43.159 So yeah, and not to mention privacy, right, there's certain 169 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:45.200 things they don't want out there on the public chains. 170 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:45.679 See. 171 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:48.639 I mean, we'll get into why Solana later, I guess, 172 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:53.240 So Solana, there's there's some interesting developments in the public space. 173 00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:56.039 So privacy is one of those interesting conversations like the 174 00:08:56.080 --> 00:08:59.080 crypto will grew up with, it's got to be open, 175 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.440 it's got to be public, have to have complete transparency 176 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:04.639 and everything happening, because if you don't, then you know 177 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:07.399 essentially why are we doing this and you're trying to 178 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:10.440 not go down the institution path. You want the openness. However, 179 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:12.759 there has to be a balance that says something's in 180 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:15.159 a transaction you do want to protect, like you do 181 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:17.679 want to protect certain things, like the value of the 182 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:21.200 transaction is the volume, because frankly, it doesn't have value 183 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:25.039 to the world, has value to the individuals. So Slana 184 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:27.440 and their extension is a very interesting way of saying 185 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:30.480 you can program parts of your smart contract where you 186 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:32.799 do add the privacy layer, and then if somebody needs 187 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:35.399 to see that, much like a bank today, you can 188 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:38.799 do a legal requirement of legal intercept or legal warrant 189 00:09:38.840 --> 00:09:40.799 to actually have that transact and a lock to see 190 00:09:40.840 --> 00:09:43.799 what's happening, because that's the people who need to see it. 191 00:09:43.879 --> 00:09:47.519 So the privacy by design piece is very interesting when 192 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:52.440 you get into that public permissioned, private permissioned, public open 193 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.279 like there needs to be privacy somewhere. So again, that's 194 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:59.279 going to be an interesting evolution in this space. 195 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:03.039 The interruption. Hi, I'm Tony. I'm the host of the 196 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:05.519 Thinking Crypto podcast. I wanted to ask you if you 197 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:08.960 can please support the podcast by hitting the like button subscribing. 198 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:10.879 If you haven't as yet, you can leave a comment 199 00:10:10.919 --> 00:10:13.200 below as well. And if you're listening on a podcast 200 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:16.559 platform such as Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts, 201 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:19.679 please be sure to follow and hit the five star rating. 202 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:21.879 I'll let you get back to the content. Thank you 203 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:23.919 so much. So there's a question I'm. 204 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:24.320 Going to ask you. 205 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.320 I know the answer, but I'm thinking of the folks 206 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:29.639 who are new to all this. They may have used 207 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:32.440 Western Union in the past and so on and so forth. 208 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:35.080 Why is Western Union creating a staple coin? 209 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:40.320 So we thought it'd be fine. No, my CEO said, there, no, 210 00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:41.840 I'm totally joking. 211 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:42.200 Now. 212 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:44.480 I think there's there's a couple of things that are 213 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:46.600 are happening globally right now. 214 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:49.320 There are users. 215 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:52.039 They're not going to care whether we have a stable 216 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:54.559 coin or we send your money with the fine unicorn 217 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:58.000 you to them. It's about speed, it's about getting the 218 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.080 money where they need it in the most simplest way. 219 00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:04.039 The best utility stable. 220 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:06.480 Coins for Western Union, there are actually three programs that 221 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:09.399 mean something very different when you apply the lens. So 222 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:13.440 for us, we move billions of hours. Globally, we are 223 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:16.919 restricted sometimes by the banking network, so you know, the 224 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:18.960 five days a week, the nine to five weekends, and 225 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:21.639 not a thing. So the treasury use case for our 226 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:24.559 coin is actually it's fairly obvious. So it says, if 227 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:27.600 I can move liquidity, you know, seven days a week, 228 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:30.000 twenty four to seven to the places I need it, 229 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.360 it actually changes my economics. It creates you know, capital 230 00:11:34.440 --> 00:11:37.039 value for me because I'm not parking capital, and it 231 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:40.360 means whatever I move, I can hold yield versus today, 232 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:42.000 I move money here, I move money there, and I 233 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:44.679 have pools of funding set all overplace. So if you 234 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:47.720 take vantage your economic premise for a Western Union, it says, look, 235 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:50.120 we have an economic pool. Now that is a new pool. 236 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:53.799 It's operation efficiency. It means we can control our capital better, 237 00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:55.919 we can do things with that, and it gives me levers. 238 00:11:56.200 --> 00:11:58.840 So that's one reason why the consumers frankly don't care. 239 00:11:59.120 --> 00:11:59.440 Sure. 240 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:01.919 The opposite side of that is what are the use 241 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:04.159 cases and the adoption the consumer side that I can 242 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:07.480 libuse that too. So we were speaking before we started 243 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.879 around you're sending money home and you're gifting. The natural 244 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:13.320 flow is you'll send money, you'll walk into a store, 245 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:15.080 you'll take that cash and go and spend it. But 246 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:17.440 it's cash, so cash is king in a lot of places. 247 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:20.159 With stable coin, we're able to do things like issue 248 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:23.360 a digital card or a physical card in places that 249 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:25.639 naturally we don't exist. So we have a stable card 250 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:28.200 program and we're able to say, hey, the money that's 251 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:30.720 going to your family member, they can now take a 252 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:33.320 card here, so it's early banking if they don't have banking, 253 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:36.679 or it's access to tap and spend digital payments. I 254 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:38.600 can go around and pay my phone billks. I actually 255 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:40.720 have a card number. Now I can do those things. 256 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:42.840 So the same coin that's going to drive my treasury 257 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:45.600 is going to drive my consumerization. So I have a 258 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:50.120 US dollar denominated value on a visa card, so that 259 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:53.639 moves instantly. Economics are that and there's some loyalty you 260 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:55.080 can put around that in the future and you can 261 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:56.840 use that. So it's a consumer use case. So what 262 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:00.440 changes for Western Union consumers is they now get global 263 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:04.080 access to a card fifty seven countries, pretty global. That's 264 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:07.960 one second, really big one is our partner network. So 265 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:10.960 Western Union is evolving to say, how do we give 266 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:14.159 access to the things we have as critical things like 267 00:13:14.200 --> 00:13:16.840 our stores to everybody else in the B to B space. 268 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:20.720 So crypto wallets, stable coin wallets, they still have a 269 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:23.559 last mile problem. So I'm really good at getting digital 270 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:25.679 to digital. So I can send your money, you can 271 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:27.279 send it to your digital bank, you can send it 272 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:30.799 through paypals or whoever. But you want cash, you're really 273 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:35.360 restricted to an ATM, which is expensive, or a money 274 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:37.200 exchange place which is going to be like change it 275 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:39.679 into tether and then I'm going to take you twenty percent, 276 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:42.879 which I saw in Columbia this weekend, and it's a 277 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:46.759 really concluded, very restrictive flow that gets quite expensive for 278 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:50.120 the end user. What we're saying to these wallet partners is, hey, 279 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:53.120 you can leverage our network. Putting Western Union is the 280 00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:55.600 ability to exit on your network and you can go 281 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:58.120 directly into my store and take cash. So the user 282 00:13:58.200 --> 00:14:01.360 flow is you're in your wallet. Let's pick cracking because 283 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:04.399 it's we all know who crack and are you have 284 00:14:04.519 --> 00:14:06.159 your wallet balance and you're able to say, ooka, I 285 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:09.559 want to send it to a Western Union, complete the FX, 286 00:14:09.559 --> 00:14:11.440 and then walk into that store and then just take 287 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:14.120 the cash and the FX is you know it's there. 288 00:14:14.519 --> 00:14:16.519 It's a very clean and clear fee of your pain, 289 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.639 which is a small fee, and then you walk out 290 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:20.799 with the cash at the end, so you're actually really 291 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:23.159 turning it to that last mile cash. We have close 292 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:26.039 to four hundred thousand stores globally, so you have four 293 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:29.279 hundred thousand places on this planet that these wallet providers 294 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:32.039 can now say you can get cash. So we have 295 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:35.960 four big partners, large partners joining the network. We have 296 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:38.240 pipeline of other ones coming through that are going to 297 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:41.799 leverage this. So it's interesting how you have the economics 298 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:44.240 the two the use case for users and the business 299 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:48.240 to business use cases just wrapped in the same USDPT 300 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:49.240 stable point. 301 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:52.799 Wow, that's incredible And I love to see and hear 302 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:57.399 of the technology making people's lives better. And you know, 303 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.000 here in the United States and someone to develop country, 304 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:01.919 it's easy for us to say, oh yeah, I don't 305 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:05.240 need that, but in other countries people absolutely need these things. 306 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:13.000 In the stable coin is called us DPT and it's 307 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:16.519 built on the Salana blockchain. So tell us why Solana 308 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:19.200 was selected and are their plans to expand to other blockchains. 309 00:15:19.559 --> 00:15:23.080 So, yeah, so we selected Salona. So we looked out 310 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:25.480 a couple of things. You know, when you're selecting technology 311 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:28.000 and you're an institution, especially a public one, you go 312 00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:31.360 through a process of you know, technology fit, partner fit, 313 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:34.399 you know, roadmap what they have coming down the pipeline. 314 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:41.039 You know, blockchains they're economically they're really not businesses that 315 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:43.159 are normal businesses where you're paying for a service. You're 316 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:46.919 leveraging their capability. You know, they help you fund other things. 317 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:50.279 So Solana they close two gaps for us. So one 318 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:53.320 on their roadmap with extensions, they have this ability to 319 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:56.120 close the proceed which we spoke before, So that ability 320 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.720 to say, hey, we have extensions on our marchain. You 321 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:02.399 can leverage to certain things in your smart contracts, so 322 00:16:02.440 --> 00:16:05.960 when you're moving between your agents or your big institutions, 323 00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:09.279 you can essentially hide certain things because you don't want 324 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:11.720 them on a public blockchain. So that was a big one. 325 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:14.559 The second one is Solana has gone through teething problems 326 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:16.759 in the past, they've really got to a point where 327 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:21.720 them you know Stellar other networks, you know, they're really 328 00:16:21.799 --> 00:16:23.759 running about the same now, they're running the same speed, 329 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:26.519 they have the same utility for users, they have those 330 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:28.840 fast use cases, so they kind of all fit in 331 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:31.919 the same So we like Solanica's they've got that capability. 332 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:34.840 The last thing is something that Solana do really well 333 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.720 and actually really enjoy working with them on. They have 334 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:39.879 these pods I think they call them pods that they 335 00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:44.279 have globally that look at use cases for DeFi cryptoneatif 336 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:47.600 use cases really unlocking the market to say, if you 337 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:51.120 use the Slana blockchain and the stable coins are running 338 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:54.559 on the blockchain, one of them being ours, then they 339 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:59.440 will introduce developers, you know, new natives to blockchain, natives 340 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:02.480 to blockchain, to the ecosystem, and then bring them to 341 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:04.400 the table so we can work directly with them, or 342 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:06.960 we can you know, understand their use cases and give 343 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:08.839 them benefits like oh, you can use the Western Union 344 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:10.359 stores or we can give you loyalty for. 345 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:11.000 That use case. 346 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:14.920 So they have this really great development arm that takes 347 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:17.440 our foundation and really drives out those use cases. And 348 00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:20.359 they've been a fantastic partner in that, and they promise 349 00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:22.599 that at the time of picking, and they've really followed 350 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:25.640 through with that stuff. So they've got some interesting things 351 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:29.079 going on other blockchains. You know, we're going to do 352 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:31.759 ethereum contracts at some point. You know, obviously we're an institution. 353 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:34.319 We're moving to an institution. Having our own smart contracts 354 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:35.359 makes sense. 355 00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:37.079 Who knows. 356 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:39.119 If there's plenty of blockchains coming out of your circle 357 00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:41.559 has their own, friends that Stripe have their own, you know, 358 00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:46.039 there's Base then you know all of them like this, right, 359 00:17:46.119 --> 00:17:49.440 you know, so they're all developing, they're all evolving, they've 360 00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:51.640 all got unique use cases coming to the market. There's 361 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:53.720 all things that they're going to bring to a financial 362 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:55.160 institution like ourselves from money. 363 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:56.480 We're written space. 364 00:17:56.519 --> 00:17:58.799 Where we can go to those blockchains for use cases 365 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:01.799 as well. And again, this is foundational for us at 366 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:04.279 Western Union. It's not a three month project and then 367 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:06.400 we're going to go and do something else, like genuinely 368 00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:10.119 as a foundational piece for organization for the next iteration 369 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:11.720 as we evolve as an organization. 370 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:14.880 I appreciate you sharing that thought because that was going 371 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:17.839 to be a question, is this a R and D project. 372 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:19.640 Temporary thing, but it sounds like it's going to be 373 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:20.720 a big part of that fabric. 374 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:24.880 Pet No, it's absolutely fabric. 375 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:29.160 So to give you some insight and how we think 376 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:32.799 about these things, the guiding principle at the moment is 377 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:37.839 we're going to partner with best breed technology. We're going 378 00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:41.519 to partner to accelerate ourselves into the market. There is 379 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:45.759 a long, deliberate strategic roadmap and plan of building capability 380 00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:50.279 around digital asset. We're evolving into a digital asset payment company. 381 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:53.200 You know, this is fundamental for how we move things 382 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:56.599 in treasury, the use cases, it puts consumer and essentially 383 00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:59.799 you can certainly see a day where all of them 384 00:18:59.799 --> 00:19:03.599 are movement moves on a USDPT coin you don't need 385 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:06.559 to move feet around if you follow the train through. 386 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:09.400 So this is absolutely foundational to what we do. It's 387 00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:12.240 not an R and D project. We're long past thinking 388 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:15.160 about R and D and POC and testing here. We're 389 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:17.839 into the you know, of the fifty seven markets. We're 390 00:19:17.880 --> 00:19:19.960 going to launch a card which one and it's all 391 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:23.079 fifty seven, like you know, we're having lots of interesting 392 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:26.279 conversations around what's the first market we're going to try 393 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:29.519 and then launch the rest. So it's very much a 394 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:31.359 you know, we're going and doing this. 395 00:19:32.119 --> 00:19:34.279 Now. There's lots of demand for the US dollar around 396 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:36.759 the globe because it's the world reserve currency, but there 397 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:39.680 are other large currencies like the euro. Are there plans 398 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:42.720 to potentially create a euro version or whatever else? 399 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:44.960 So I'm European, so I mean, no, we're going to 400 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.039 be US do now I'm joking. No, absolutely, So I 401 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:51.880