MoneyGram, a P2P money transfer company, on October 6th announced its partnership with the Stellar Network for enabling USDC for cross-border payment and settlement. This partnership will allow the digital wallets of Stellar Network to access MoneyGram's platform and hence, will provide a bridge between local currencies and the virtual assets.
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What is there for the consumers in this partnership?
Well, you must be aware that Stellar Network is a decentralized, scalable and sustainable network for financial services. Stellar Network aims to connect the world's financial infrastructure by allowing financial institutions to settle payments and issue assets on the platform. On the other hand, MoneyGram is a Peer-to-Peer payment company that has grown to serve more than 150 million people across the globe.
This partnership of MoneyGram with Stellar will allow the seamless conversion of USDC to cash and cash to USDC, which will ultimately increase the utility of virtual assets. Talking about the settlement process, it will be revolutionized with MoneyGram because USDC is the fastest-growing stablecoin and will improve efficiency and reduce the risks associated with the payment settlement.
Blockchain technology and stablecoins can potentially bring many new opportunities across the world and enhance the existing banking and finance system. MoneyGram’s top priority is to innovate the cross-border payment system, and their collaboration with Stellar Development Foundation will further strengthen their efforts for cross-border payment.
USD Coin is a stablecoin backed by U.S. Dollar, and it makes the transactions fast and cheap compared to the traditional payment system. It also reduces the volatility compared to other cryptocurrencies. Enabling the USD Coin by MoneyGram for cross-border payments will create a secure, seamless and faster settlement for the digital economy.
Note that this partnership will be live in only selected markets in 2021, and the further rollouts will be planned in 2022.
Also, the settlement process of conversion of USDC to U.S. Dollar will be facilitated by United Texas Bank within a regulatory framework. Notably, United Texas Bank is specialized in delivering customized banking services to businesses by providing them with creative solutions for financial success.
Closing Thoughts
The partnership will allow the more straightforward conversion of cash to USDC and vice versa, which is an excellent thing to increase the adoption of cryptocurrencies because it will increase the liquidity of the digital assets.
MoneyGram utilized blockchain technology in foreign exchange trading and became the first money transfer protocol to make use of blockchain. It is continued to invest in the initiatives elated to cryptocurrencies that will undoubtedly contribute towards the global adoption of virtual assets and will revolutionize the P2P payments.