MoneyGram chief outlines results of Ripple partnership

Over 18 months of cooperation with the fintech company Ripple, the number of transactions through MoneyGram’s app rose 220%, according to Alex Holmes, CEO of MoneyGram International, in an interview with CNN.

Thanks @jchatterleyCNN for having me on this morning. Great catching up on MoneyGram’s digital growth as well as the strong consumer sentiment toward remittances going into this holiday season.#MoneyGramMomentum https://t.co/AhOTgByjpg

— Alex Holmes (@walexholmes) December 16, 2020

The number of online customers of the service rose 140% during this period, said the head of MoneyGram International (MGI).

“We have been working with Ripple for about 18 months, and the idea was to really push innovation and explore how we can help expand global use of blockchain,” Holmes said.

MoneyGram announced the partnership in January 2018. Earlier, Holmes said that 10% of transfers between the US and Mexico are processed via the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) payment solution, which uses Ripple’s XRP token.

According to the head of MGI, the situation in money transfers will change over the next decade, and ODL could gain wider traction by delivering payments in real time.

Demand for such services is growing, and the service needs to maintain adequate liquidity for them, Holmes said.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that his firm and MGI conducted transactions worth billions of dollars worldwide using XRP.

Thanks @jchatterleyCNN for having me on this morning. Great catching up on MoneyGram’s digital growth as well as the strong consumer sentiment toward remittances going into this holiday season.#MoneyGramMomentum https://t.co/AhOTgByjpg

— Alex Holmes (@walexholmes) December 16, 2020

“I’m struck by how more than a year and a half has passed since our partnership,” he commented on Holmes’s interview.

The head of MGI stressed that the companies will continue to collaborate.

“Ripple is doing many unique things with blockchain, and cryptocurrency helps enable this. It has been a really good partnership; we’ve learned a lot together and will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible,” Holmes said.

In 2019, Ripple invested $50 million in the service. Earlier this year, MoneyGram received an additional investment of $11.3 million from the fintech company.

In November it became known that Ripple sold about a third of its stake in MGI.

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