MoneyGram, a former partner of Ripple, and Frente Corretora, a current partner, have teamed up to introduce a new remittance service in Brazil with no costs for consumers. The new service, MoneyGram Online (MGO), enables users to send money from Brazil to any country in the world at almost real-time speed. The company has a suite of options such as account deposit, mobile wallet, and cash pick-up from retail locations.
Alex Holmes, MoneyGram Chairman and CEO, stated,
“We’re confident that this launch will enable us to capture growth from new customer segments, deepen relationships with established customers and create tremendous value for years to come.”
With more than 1,000 retail outlets across Brazil, MoneyGram already occupies a prominent position in the country.
In the past, Ripple made significant investments in MoneyGram and purchased its stocks. MoneyGram said that it cleared billions of US dollars using XRP. However, the collaboration came to an end in 2021 when Ripple was sued by the SEC. After MoneyGram put the partnership on hold, Ripple sold all of its interests in MoneyGram, and the blockchain powerhouse formally canceled the agreement in March.
Ripple partners expanding on Brazil’s growing crypto footprint
Brazil is a growing user of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. According to the World Bank, Latin American remittances abroad have been rising substantially in recent years.
Moreover, according to Accenture’s 2022 Global Consumer Payments report, Latin America trails only behind Asia Pacific in terms of next-generation payment platform adoption.
Furthermore, Brazil ranks 9th in the number of people who use cryptocurrencies. According to Bloomberg, 32.3 million Brazilians use crypto, accounting for 19% of the population.
Additionally, a recent motion in the SEC v. Ripple litigation approved MoneyGram and “third party A’s” request to redact documents filed in conjunction with Daubert motions. This was done to safeguard Ripple’s confidential business ventures and third parties’ lawful privacy interests.
At press time, XRP was trading at $0.343070, down by 0.6% in the last 24 hours.