MoneyGram teams up with Stellar to allow users to exchange USDC, fiat
MoneyGram is partnering with Stellar Development Foundation to leverage its blockchain to roll out a service that will allow users to seamlessly send and convert stablecoins into fiat, Bloomberg News reported.
Once the service goes live, users with wallets on the Stellar network will be able to convert their crypto into Circle’s USD Coin (USDC). They can then cash out the stablecoin through the MoneyGram network.
MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes shared the development in a recent interview with the news outlet. He said the crypto and fiat worlds are currently incompatible. To help address this issue, the company is looking to introduce a solution that bridges both worlds.
Crypto is the future
Despite the recent crypto market crash, Holmes said the nascent industry is “here to stay.”
To this end, he believes it is vital to embrace the sector and help make it mainstream. By partnering with the Stellar Development Foundation, MoneyGram positions itself well to help boost the adoption of cryptocurrencies.
The partnership could potentially help further push adoption in emerging markets where Moneygram operates. According to the World Bank, remittances in low and middle-income countries might rise to $630 billion in 2022. The rapid growth creates a massive opportunity for MoneyGram’s service.
Stellar CEO Denelle Dixon told Bloomberg News:
“There are billions of cash-dependent people globally who could benefit from the utility that digital assets and blockchain provide. The answer is what we’re building through this partnership — a service for helping them go from cash to digital assets.”
Traditional remittance companies are increasingly turning to crypto and blockchain technologies to improve their services.
In the past year, Japanese firms SBI Remit and Hamamatsu Iwata Credit Bank announced that they would start using RippleNet and XRP (XRP) for remittances.
