Western Union WU stock drops on fear of Facebook cryptocurrency Libra

Shares of Western Union fell Tuesday as excitement around the potential of sending money internationally without fees with Facebook’s new cryptocurrency took a bite out of the money exchanging company.

Western Union was one of the the worst performing stocks on the S&P 500 index, falling 1.7%.

Facebook unveiled a cryptocurrency called Libra on Tuesday. The tech giant is leading a group of companies in building Libra as a digital currency, which is expected to launch in the first half of 2020.

Among Facebook’s applications for Libra is cross-border payments, otherwise known as remittances. People who want to send money internationally would transfer funds between local currencies and Libra, rather than pay a bank like Western Union a few to transfer the money.

Facebook is partnering with dozens of companies to facilitate Libra, including payment companies like Visa, MasterCard and PayPal.

“Consumer-to-consumer” money exchanges makes up about 80% of Western Union’s revenue, according to its most recent quarterly report in May. The company forecast full-year 2019 non-adjusted earnings between $2.66 a share and $2.76 a share.