Crypto Community Clarity: Western Union & Thunes Partnership Not Powered by Stellar Blockchain

The latest partnership between Thunes, previously known as TransferTo with Western Union is in no way connected with Stellar or any other blockchain, for that matter, confirmed Thunes.

The company that provides cross border network to deliver smarter payment solutions for emerging economies took to Twitter to clarify any uncertainty regarding this partnership. Addressing the news circulating around this partnership to be powered by Stellar blockchain, Thunes confirmed on LinkedIn that this information is “factually incorrect and this is not the case.”

In reality, the partnership is 100 percent powered by Thunes API network and has in no way connected to the blockchain.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
The @ThunesPayments and @WesternUnion partnership is 100% powered by the Thunes proprietary API Network and has no connection to Blockchain. Read more here: https://t.co/6dHBZPLqdq pic.twitter.com/uXiyVMHIZD

— Thunes (@ThunesPayments) March 22, 2019

Back in July 2018, Thunes then branded as TransferTo has partnered up with Stellar to enhance money transfers across borders. Under this partnership, Thunes integrated Stellar to enable an efficient and more seamless settlement method between its network partners in more than 70 countries.

This time Thunes has partnered up with the payment giant, Western Union which is the leader in the cross border money movement to enable its customers to send funds directly into the mobile wallets of users around the world.

“Our goal is to make digital money transfer services more accessible, with a specific focus on enabling mobile transactions,” said Sobia Rahman, Global Head of Account Payout Network for Western Union.

Though Western Union might not have an indirect connection with Stellar this time, the company is pilot testing with Ripple technology. Just last month, Molly Shea, the General Manager of Asia Pacific at Western Union revealed that they could use Ripple in certain corridors particularly with the Mexican peso and the US Dollar.

Ripple Labs and Western Union collaboration have been known since the company began testing its blockchain solution towards the end of 2017. Moreover, Western Union invested in the venture capital company Digital Current Group in 2016 that has also made investments in Ripple.