(Reuters) – Blockchain payment firm Ripple will end partnership with money transfer services company MoneyGram International Inc, the companies said on Monday.
They did not specify the reason behind the decision to terminate the agreement, but Ripple Chief Executive Officer Brad Garlinghouse said in a Twitter post https://twitter.com/bgarlinghouse/status/1369034531865563150 that the companies were committed to revisiting the partnership in future.
Ripple bought a $30 million stake in MoneyGram in 2019, with the partnership initially set for two years. The deal allowed MoneyGram to use Ripple’s product for cross-border payment and foreign exchange settlement. (https://reut.rs/3emIgNk)
In December, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ripple, associated with cryptocurrency XRP, with conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering.
While bitcoin is considered a commodity by U.S. financial regulators, most other cryptocurrencies are yet to be classified as commodities or securities.
MoneyGram, which stopped transacting under its commercial agreement with Ripple in early December, said in a regulatory filing it will not receive any market development fees in 2021.
(Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
