For Western Union chief information officer John “David” Thompson, bitcoin represents an innovative technology that, if successful, could significantly impact the way people transact and exchange information.

Yet the path he sees to that future is fogged by regulatory and cultural challenges that are yet to be resolved.

In conversation with CoinDesk, Thompson detailed how he invested in bitcoin mining in order to learn more about nuts and bolts of the technology – a process that he continues to this day.

“I have some [KnCMiner] Neptunes – about two terahashes in bitcoin mining,” he said. “It’s done well.”

Thompson said he began mining both personally and professionally to see what the technology could do and if Western Union could potentially benefit from its implementation.

Still, while there is potential in certain applications of the technology, he said, it remains to be seen whether bitcoin moves past being what he called “a solution looking for a problem to solve.”

Western Union, he said, is interested in seeing how the technology grows amid an evolving regulatory environment. As a global company, he explained, Western Union looks at a landscape of hundreds of legal jurisdictions, each with their own specific standards on money transmission and transaction oversight.

Thompson continued:

“Bitcoin as a technology doesn’t solve any problems for us in the core of our business. Our challenge is the last mile. How do I get that money in the person's hand, and meet all the regulatory compliance needs in that country? So, I don’t really need it for the minimum. Moving a bit from Point A to Point B isn’t hard. The last mile is really hard.”

At the same time, Thompson told CoinDesk that Western Union is open to the technology and will continue observing its development to see if it can provide solutions to challenges it faces.

 

source;http://www.coindesk.com/western-union-cio-bitcoin-solution-todays-market/