- Major corporation to pair up with growing blockchain firm Ripple
- MoneyGram set to improve cash flow and improve transaction times
- “Through our partnership with Ripple, we will also have the opportunity to further enhance our operations and streamline our global liquidity management”, says MoneyGram’s CEO
Leading international money transfer platform Ripple has announced that it will make a $30 million investment in MoneyGram.
Ripple is a blockchain-based payment platform which has been adopted by a number of money transfer providers in recent times.
MoneyGram has left the door open for future support too, and Ripple can choose to buy some common stock or warrants in the firm to a value of two-thirds of its current investment level.
According to MoneyGram, the partnership means that it will no longer have to rely on buying up forex before setting a transaction – and will instead be able to sell crypto as a new means of liquidity.
It will also now be able to cut down on its expenditure as a result of the streamlined Ripple system and manage its cash flow better.
The partnership will last for two years, at least at first. However, industry media suggested that the move may in fact be extended once the trial period is over.
According to MoneyGram’s chair and CEO Alex Holmes, the partnership will offer a chance to “further enhance our operations”.
“As the payments industry evolves, we are focused on continuing to improve our platform and utilizing the best technology as part of our overall settlement process”, he said.
“Through our partnership with Ripple, we will also have the opportunity to further enhance our operations and streamline our global liquidity management.”
The partnership was in some ways foretold by Holmes’ colleague, the firm’s global head of product and innovation Youri Bebic, who gave an interview on the topic in recent weeks.
He recently said: “the money’s already there. We pre-fund bank accounts all over the world, and then we do value transfer.”
However, the new strategy will mean it will be possible “to sell cryptocurrency against local currency and deposit that into the bank account or give it in cash for our user”, he added.
The news from MoneyGram comes just weeks after it announced it would be working alongside the firm Canada Post to vastly improve its presence in the North American country.
For anyone who regularly watches the online money transfer world, this news that blockchain-powered Ripple is investing in a major remittance services corporation will be of great interest. Ripple has been making waves in the industry recently, and it has started to get involve with many cash transfer firms. As time goes on, it’s increasingly likely that firms in MoneyGram’s league will begin to uncover the commercial benefits of super-fast transactions, higher security, better cash flows and more.
Keep up to date with the latest new from platforms like Ripple and others in this sphere over at our news page.