- Ripple has completed its $50 million investment in MoneyGram.
- As a result, the company behind the cryptocurrency XRP now owns nearly 10 percent of all MoneyGram shares.
San Francisco-based Ripple, the company behind the XRP cryptocurrency, has completed its investment in MoneyGram, a money transfer company operating in 194 countries worldwide. Ripple announced in a press release that the second part of its investment of $20 million was made in accordance with Ripple’s initial $50 million capital commitment made earlier this year.
Ripple purchased the newly issued equity from MoneyGram at a price of $4.10 per share. This represents a premium of approximately 30 percent over the current market value of the shares of MoneyGram International Inc (MGI). As a result of the investment, Ripple now owns 9.95 percent of MoneyGram’s outstanding common stock, or approximately 15 percent on a fully diluted basis, which the U.S. company would own if it had converted all of its holdings into shares.
Earlier this year, Ripple signed an agreement with MoneyGram to invest a total of $50 million in MoneyGram. In return, MoneyGram agreed to use Ripple’s technology, specifically xRapid (now On Demand Liquidity), for its cross-border payments.
MoneyGram to make greater use of XRP
According to the press release, the cash injection will help MoneyGram increase its operating volume and increase the use of Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity product to send money worldwide, instantly and reliably using XRP as a “bridge currency”.
Alex Holmes, Chairman and CEO of MoneyGram said:
Our partnership with Ripple is transformative for both the traditional money transfer and digital asset industry – for the first time ever, we’re settling currencies in seconds. This initial success encourages us to expedite expanding our use of On-Demand Liquidity. […] I anticipate furthering our growth into new corridors and exploring new products and services.
MoneyGram currently moves about 10 percent of its Mexican peso trading volume through On-Demand Liquidity. Holmes, announced at the Swell conference that 10 percent of all transactions from Mexico to the U.S. are conducted using Ripple’s ODL technology. Since announcing its partnership with Ripple, MoneyGram has also begun processing four additional cross-border corridors, including Europe, Australia and the Philippines.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple said in the press release:
Last month, we announced that MoneyGram began using On-Demand Liquidity for payments to the Philippines, and we’re excited to support MoneyGram’s further expansion into Europe and Australia. Digital assets and blockchain technology have the potential to make a tremendous impact on cross-border payments – MoneyGram and Ripple is an example of that. In June, we announced this partnership, and it’s encouraging to see the rapid growth and benefits come to life.
XRP price on downward trend
Currently, the XRP price is in a strong downtrend. At the time of writing, XRP was trading at USD 0.22, a level at which the price last moved almost two years ago.
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