Because it's sort of like an old-time telegraph company saying, "Telephones? Hey, let's get in on this by offering a service where we transcribe telephone conversations and send them out to the other party as a telegraph." In other words, totally missing the point.
Do you actually think there is no need for money services with Bitcoin? I think you need to stop for a moment and think about this: what would Bitcoin be worth if there were no Bitcoin exchanges?
Western Union can provide a lot of relevant services: escrow, conversion to obscure currencies (or just general exchange), fraud mitigation, etc.
I'm not trying to diss Western Union here, I'm just explaining why the other guy said that.
But OK, I'll take the bait :).
Yes, Western Union can provide a lot of relevant services, but so can _anybody_, and there are already a number of Bitcoin exchanges.
To assume that Western Union ought to provide Bitcoin services is like assuming that a horse-and-buggy company ought to start making cars. I mean, sure, it might be a really good idea, but cars are a _revolution_ of the horse-and-buggy, not an _evolution_. Likewise, Bitcoin is a revolution compared to traditional money transfer, not an evolution.
Edit: Lol.. not sure why I was downvoted. It is obvious the previous poster meant that bitcoin is over-the-heads of employees of Western Union... this was a play on that.
I agree that "if you have to explain a joke, it isn't funny", but not only was I on-topic for the story -- but also for the specific thread.
The implied point was that the good people at Western Union aren't as dumb as the previous commenter stated, and probably are excited about a (possible) reinvention and embracing of bitcoin.
Forgive me for injecting some levity into an otherwise boring story, but my point was clear and remains valid.
I suppose I should have just called the previous poster a troll and stated "they're probably excited". Oops. I'll be more confrontational next time.
(Also, not on reddit, just would rather attempt to use humor to get a point across. Maybe I watched too much Monty Python as a kid...)
It's not that your point was off-topic or that humor doesn't necessarily belong on HN, but the brand of humor Archer employs is not appropriate for HN, nor is the use of gifs to illustrate your point.
