Western Union has announced to stop offering money transfers from the United States to Cuba. The market analysts believe Bitcoin may cover the gap left by the Western Union in the region.

People who send money to Cuba are having just one week to send capital via the channel of Western Union as the payment giant is terminating the remittance facility in the region.

With a market cap of $9 billion, Western Union is serving the remittance facility to Americans to send money to family members living in Cuba.  But the company is going to suspend the services because the United States has imposed sanctions over communist Cuba.

$4 Billion Remittance in the Region

As per the data calculated by the Florida International University, up to $4 billion normally transfers from the US to Cuba every year. And most of the money goes to relatives and family members throughout the country. According to Florida International University’s study, remittance plays an important part in the country’s economy.

“For more than 20 years, Western Union has been moving money to Cuba on behalf of our customers to family and loved ones to pay for food, rent, and other expenses including micro-businesses…We sincerely regret this situation and its impact on our customers,” Western Union said in its announcement.

Like Cuba, Venezuela is another state where financial-related companies avoid establishing their subsidiaries due to sanctions imposed over the state. Lawyers of the firms advised many fintech companies to get exposure to both Cuba and Venezuela.

The economy will suffer as remittance will decline and tourism is already closed to the Coronavirus pandemic. As there are chances of high inflation, currency having a hard cap, such as Bitcoin, can grab the attention of people. Bitcoin is the best modern hedge instrument against rising currency inflation or economic instability. Payment giants, such as PayPal, are already onboarding cryptocurrency for users across the world.