MoneyGram brings Crypto-To-Cash Service On The Stellar Blockchain
MoneyGram, cross-border P2P payments and money transfer company, announced the initial roll-out of on/off-ramp service for digital wallets to increase the utility of digital assets by creating a bridge between cash and cryptocurrencies.
The new service will make it easy for digital wallet customers to move between fiat to cryptocurrency to fiat again, without needing a bank account or credit card, the company said in a press release.
MoneyGram is working together with Stellar Development Foundation, a non-profit that develops the Stellar blockchain, to enable the service.
The initial rollout includes a few select markets including Canada, Kenya, the Philippines and the US, at any MoneyGram location in these countries. The company said it was focusing on these markets because they are “remittance markets,” or places where there are a high volume of cross-border transactions.
The global cash-out functionality is expected to be available by the end of June 2022.
The partnership will also focus on changing-up the settlement process, which will work using Circle’s USDC stablecoin.
Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation, wrote in a statement:
“Today, almost 2 billion people rely on cash for their livelihood, with no options to access the digital economy. At the same time, a persistent pain point for crypto-native users is off-ramping cryptocurrency quickly and reliably. The groundbreaking nature of this service is how it solves problems for a range of users with varying needs around the world.”
Alex Holmes, MoneyGram Chairman and CEO commented:
“At MoneyGram, we’re on a mission to deliver innovative financial solutions that connect the world’s communities, and the initial launch of this service is another important milestone on our journey. It’s especially exciting to launch this service ahead of schedule due to the strong collaboration of our technology teams, and we look forward to further collaboration with SDF as we work on uncovering new ways to utilize blockchain to further streamline cross-border payments.”
More wallets will be added to the service soon, but for now, users of Stellar-connected digital wallets Vibrat and Lobstr can access the service.
