One of the world’s largest money transfer companies, MoneyGram, is partnering with the Stellar blockchain network to create instant money transfers using Circle’s USDC stablecoin. How will this new deal work out? Here’s all you need to know.
What are the details of this partnership?
While MoneyGram International, Inc. has been in existence for decades, Stellar Development Foundation is a non-profit organization that started in 2014 to support the development of Stellar, a blockchain network that facilitates cross-border transactions. The Stellar network uses the XLM coin to operate, which is currently priced at $0.359.
Through this partnership, the two companies announced that MoneyGram’s network will be integrated with the Stellar blockchain to facilitate cash funding and payout in local currency for consumers through the USD Coin (USDC). Initially developed on the Ethereum blockchain, the USDC stablecoin governed by Coinbase and Circle through the Centre consortium went live on Stellar in February.
Here are some of the benefits that customers will enjoy.
- For consumers that sign up, this partnership will make it easier to convert USDC to cash or cash to USDC seamlessly. As a result, more consumers will participate in the digital economy.
- Customers will be able to settle their MoneyGram accounts in real-time using Circle’s USDC. This will enable accelerated collection of funds, improving efficiency and reduced risk.
MoneyGram and cryptocurrency
MoneyGram was the first money transfer company to use blockchain technology as part of its foreign exchange trading. The company had been in a partnership with cryptocurrency payments network Ripple until December 2020, when the SEC filed a suit against the company. Now that Circle also got subpoenaed by the SEC, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Having launched several innovative partnerships that provide their customers access to digital currencies, MoneyGram has been very progressive towards cryptocurrency.
