Cross border transactions that occur seamlessly and over vast distances have been seen as the next phase of the banking industry. Cryptocurrency companies have also jumped into the thick of this action. In this regard, no other company has made itself more heard than Ripple. The partnerships undertaken by the Brad Garlinghouse led organization was done by choosing companies that work along with the same principle, MoneyGram being the perfect candidate.
Just recently, MoneyGram reported that they had created a new record when it came to online payments over the holiday season. During the time period between December 1 and December 25, all affiliated MoneyGram platforms reported transaction growth of more than 70 percent on a year on year basis. Out of this, 80 percent of the transactions occurred on mobile devices, a trend that has been surging for the past couple of years.
An official newsletter from the company stated that recent consumer behavior was driven by 3.2 billion smartphone users with increased global migration techniques. Alex Holmes, the Chief Executive Officer [CEO] of MoneyGram a major proponent of the Ripple partnership said:
As part of our digital transformation, we’re on a mission to mobilize the movement of money. The success of our mobile application throughout the year, and especially during the holiday season, demonstrates the value consumers place not only on our user experience but also on our global distribution network.”
Since the partnership with Ripple, MoneyGram has reported strong numbers. This was helped along by using Ripple’s own DLT to improve MoneyGram’s core systems. Ripple and MoneyGram have both claimed that they want to push aggressively at the moment to ensure more trade corridors are opened up. According to the MoneyGram official financial institutions have a large opportunity to leverage blockchain and digital assets in order to think differently.
The furore around MoneyGram’s application stems from the fact that it is easy to use. This has also enabled the company to expand multiple payment corridors, with Mexico being of keen interest to the company. Upon launch, the application was so highly praised that it now has over 1.6 million downloads.