
Shares of Moneygram International (NYSE:MGI) skyrocket after the company says it will test partnering with cryptocurrency Ripple on payments.
Ripple is a cryptocurrency (XRP) issued by a blockchain startup of the same name and has enjoyed an astonishing rise in 2018 following in the footsteps of bitcoin.
During the pilot, MoneyGram will utilize XRP, the native digital asset of the Ripple Ledger, with the aim to speed up payment flows through xRapid, Ripple's solution for on-demand liquidity. To put things into perspective, MoneyGram transfered over $600 Billion in cross-border payments in 2016. "Money transfer companies are incredibly important because they help people get money to their friends and loved ones", said Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, in the release. Fees would be lower and the payment flows more transparent.
The move is critical when it comes to the plan that includes the utilization of XRP, Ripple's digital money, which has taken off in esteem yet in addition confronted inquiries concerning its viable uses.
Last June, Stefan Thomas, Ripple's chief technology officer, said that compared with the status quo of correspondent banking, XRP-based liquidity would seem like "gold that you can teleport into any vault in the world instantly".
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This shows that Ripple is emerging as a key supplier of technology support for money transfers not only to banks but also to other institutions having their own payments wallet.
The MoneyGram announcement gave XRP a shot in the arm.
The world's largest cryptocurrencies are struggling to stay in the green this week after a possible clampdown on exchanges by South Korean regulators sent the total market cap of all digital coins down by nearly 25%.
The value of numerous forms of digital currency fell Thursday after South Korea, a hotbed for currencies like bitcoin, said it was weighing a trading ban. XRP traded as high as $2.35 on Thursday morning before falling back to just above $2.00 by the early afternoon.
We may see the latter run into the end of the day as the cryptocurrency markets absorb the development and its implications for Ripple as a company and XRP going forward.
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