Ripple announced its latest strategic move. The company is partnering with MoneyGram, the money transfer industry giant, to offer cross border payment solutions via digital assets. The partnership is the latest move by Ripple to continue revolutionizing the money transfer industry.

Aside from the partnership, Ripple is investing $50 million, as a commitment to MoneyGram, in exchange for equity in the company over two years. During that time, Ripple becomes MoneyGram’s leading partner for cross-border payment solutions.

The announcement resulted in a 4% increase in XRP value.

The partnership was greeted enthusiastically by the markets | Source: CoinMarketCap

Cryptocurrency on The World Map

For quite some time now, the world has overlooked cryptocurrencies as a possible solution to money transfer. Various financial institutions ignored early adoptions of the technology; however, as blockchain improves, companies are warming up to cryptocurrencies.

Now, MoneyGram’s partnership with Ripple will see the cryptocurrency represent the industry globally. Currently, Bitcoin leads the cryptocurrency industry in terms of market awareness and global usage. However, with Ripple offering industry-changing solutions through its partnership, it could help grow the cryptocurrency industry beyond BTC and ETH.

The size of MoneyGram plays a crucial role in putting creating cryptocurrency awareness. According to their website, MoneyGram is available in over 200 countries with over 350,000 agents operating in these countries. By just announcing their partnership with Ripple within their corporation, over 350,000 people worldwide will be informed of the industry changing practices cryptocurrencies can bring.

Further, cryptocurrency transfers are competitively priced, which gives users incentives to transfer their funds via XRP. With Ripple’s xRapid product, money transferred via XRP can be easily liquidated, which makes money transfers via Ripple cheaper and convenient. In a statement hosted on Ripple’s website, the MoneyGram CEO stated:

 “Through Ripple’s xRapid product, we will have the ability to instantly settle funds from US dollars to destination currencies on a 24/7 basis, which has the potential to revolutionize our operations and dramatically streamline our global liquidity management.”

The perks of the partnership may also influence cryptocurrency enthusiasts to migrate from their respective money transfer methods as Ripple offers ready liquidity through MoneyGram.

Earlier in the year, rumors of a hostile takeover surrounded Ripple despite the efforts they were taking to remain relevant in the market.

Fast-forward to June, and everything seems to be on track for the company. The latest partnership with MoneyGram joins a long list of strategic decisions the company has made thus far to not only remain relevant but provide the world with lasting solutions to existing problems in the financial sector.

Continuous Evolvement

The world is virtually a village at this point because of the internet and other technologies. The demand for global financial services is growing daily. People are now able to work remotely, thus the need to offer payment services that function globally.

Moreover, as global money transfer increase, users are increasingly becoming aware of the amount of money lost through transfer fees and other frictional costs hence the need for a platform such as Ripple.

The partnership with MoneyGram will see users pay close to nothing in frictional costs as a result of the efficiency of cryptocurrency.

With more of such strategic partnerships, the potential for cryptocurrency to become a daily product or medium of exchange shortly increases.