MoneyGram, the second largest money transfer provider in the world. It has partnered with Ripple and will test its technology in an internal pilot plan to improve the efficiency of its services.
The association between them was announced a few hours ago on the official MoneyGram and Ripple websites. The strategic alliance between the two companies will begin with a plan that seeks to use the Ripple cryptocurrency (XRP) to reduce costs and improve the speed of payment flow in the MoneyGram system.
They will also check the integration of the MoneyGram on the Ripple platform, through xVia. In this way, the MoneyGram company will use XRP through Ripple’s payment and “liquidity on demand” solution : xRapid , an infrastructure aimed at payment providers and other financial institutions that want to minimize liquidity costs.
In essence, MoneyGram seeks to optimize its international payment services and thus improve the experience of its users. It should be noted that in the market for transfers of remittances and international payments, nearly 600,000 million dollars were sent during 2016 “to help support the family members who live in their countries of origin or to establish transactions with business partners” – according to Ripple’s statement .
Together with Ripple, MoneyGram aims to ensure that these international payment services can be carried out in the near future in a faster and cheaper way. MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes commented:
“Ripple is at the forefront of blockchain technology and we look forward to driving xRapid. We hope it will increase efficiency and improve services to MoneyGram customers. “
This alliance with MoneyGram joins the list of strategic partnerships that Ripple has been establishing with more than a hundred financial and banking institutions around the world, including American Express and Santander. It is worth noting that in mid-December, banks in South Korea and Japan began testing cross-border and inter-bank payments with Ripple Net.
Ripple became one of the fastest growing cryptocurrencies in 2017. At the end of last month, it managed to displace Ethereum from second place in the crypto market, registering a maximum value of 2.84 dollars, although it is currently in third place in the market and the XRP is priced at about $ 2, according to CoinMarketCap .