MoneyGram Will Now Allow US Customers to Trade and Hold BTC, ETH and LTC on Its App

Money-transfer service MoneyGram has launched a new peer-to-peer service on its app to enable consumers to buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

MoneyGram will roll out the service to U.S. customers in the District of Columbia and all U.S. states, excluding New York, Idaho, and Hawaii.

MoneyGram to partner with Coinme

Digital currency exchange and software provider Coinme will provide the backend support for MoneyGram’s new service. The company will expand its offerings of cryptocurrencies on the app in 2023 per global regulations. The expansion may include the remaining four cryptocurrencies offered by Coinme, namely MATIC, LINK, DOGE, and XLM.

“As a next step in the evolution of MoneyGram, we’re thrilled to provide our customers with access to a trusted and easy-to-use platform to securely buy, sell and hold select cryptocurrencies,” says MoneyGram chief executive Alex Holmes.

MoneyGram also uses Coinme’s software on its thousands of ATM locations that allow crypto purchases with bank cards. 

The company previously partnered with the Stellar Foundation. The deal allows users with wallets on the Stellar blockchain to convert their holdings to USDC, which can be cashed out using MoneyGram’s network.

Could crypto benefit from core business?

By adding crypto services to its app, MoneyGram could onboard new customers. These would be customers that already use it for overseas remittances but have little exposure to crypto. In Q1, 2022, the money-transfer company reported that digital revenue reached an all-time high of $83 million, Later, in Q2, digital revenue increased to $92 million, which indicates that the company is generating record revenue through its digital channels, including its app.

The World Bank has predicted that remittances to low and middle-income regions would total $630 billion by the end of 2022. Accordingly, in Q1 2022, MoneyGram reported that cross-border transactions grew roughly 20% compared to the previous year. The company also said in its Q1 financial report that its cross-border customer base increased by 19%. The company’s Q2 report indicated that the same customer base increased by 11% compared to a year earlier. It declined to break out exact numbers. 

In an interview with CNN earlier this year, Holmes said that converting crypto to fiat and vice versa is costly. Perhaps this new partnership with Coinme is the answer.

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