Flare CEO Says Western Union Deal with Solana Holds No Bearing on XRP

Flare CEO Hugo Philion emphasizes that the Western Union deal with Solana does not impact Ripple (XRP) or the XRP Ledger (XRPL) ecosystem in any strategic sense

Philion issued the statement in reaction to Western Union’s decision to launch its U.S. Dollar Payment Token (USDPT) stablecoin on Solana. The financial behemoth plans to launch USDPT on Solana in the first half of 2026.

Leading digital asset bank Anchorage Digital will handle the issuance of the dollar-pegged stablecoin. This move seeks to support Western Union’s 100 million-user network and enable faster, more cost-efficient global payments.

Back then, the company explored Ripple’s blockchain solution to enable faster, cheaper cross-border settlements Despite running several pilots with XRP in 2018, the financial giant still chose Solana as the network for its upcoming stablecoin.

This led to frustration among the XRP Army, particularly as critics used it to mock XRP’s relevance in payments.

Flare CEO: Western Union-Solana Deal Has No Bearing on Ripple or XRPL

According to Philion, Ripple has set its sights on the highly lucrative sectors of trading and asset management, unlike Western Union, which entirely focuses on consumer payments.

This strategic focus is reflected in Ripple’s recent acquisitions of treasury management system provider GTreasury and prime broker Hidden Road (now Ripple Prime).

Flare Complements Ripple and XRPL Win

Furthermore, Philion noted that Flare complements the achievements of Ripple and XRPL by expanding XRP’s capabilities. Notably, Flare enhances XRP’s utility through DeFi integration and cross-chain interoperability, ultimately making XRP more versatile and programmable for future financial use cases.

The firm recently introduced FAssets, a system that allows XRP holders to access yield-generating opportunities on the Flare network. Since its launch in September, the initiative has gained significant traction. Users have bridged over 45.5 million XRP (worth approximately $117.72 million) to mint FXRP, the wrapped version of XRP.

Through these wrapped tokens, participants can engage in DeFi activities such as lending, staking, and liquidity provision across Flare-based platforms, including Kinetic, MoreMarkets, BlazeSwap, and SparkDEX.