Goodbye Ripple, Hello Stellar: MoneyGram partners with XRP competitor to offer blockchain-based payments

Key Takeaways:

• Moneygram announced partnership with Stellar to enable cash funding and payout using Circle’s USDC
• The new partnership is notable as Moneygram’s new partner is the main competitor of its former partner, Ripple Labs.
• Stellar’s token XLM jumped 12% on Oct 6.

NEW DELHI (CoinChapter.com) — MoneyGram International, one of the largest international remittance services in the world, has partnered with the Stellar Development Foundation to develop a payments bridge. The integration will help optimize money transfers and enable near-instant backend settlement using USDC, the company said.

The partnership would help customers cash into USDC and vice versa for instant pickup at MoneyGram locations. Circle developed USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, which first went live on Ethereum before moving to Stellar in February.

MoneyGram’s choice of partner is sure to raise a few questions, as the firm has chosen to partner with a rival of Ripple, its former partner. However, MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes stated the partnership ended as both firms’ visions had certain limitations. Mr. Holmes further said that XRP’s volatility was also a factor in the decision.

Meanwhile, Stellar Lumens (XLM), Stellar’s native token, is having a volatile Thursday after closing yesterday at $0.358, up 12.31% on the day.

MoneyGram- Adiós Ripple, Hola Stellar

MoneyGram plans to launch a pilot in select markets by the end of this year. In addition, the firm has planned a gradual international rollout for early 2022. However, there are no details regarding pricing available yet. United Texas Bank, an FDIC-insured bank, would serve as a settlement bank between Circle and MoneyGram.

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The Dallas-based bank would benefit from not being nervous about cryptocurrencies, believes MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes. However, he added that the bank’s decision to facilitate USDC settlements highlights its progressive stance on crypto.

MoneyGram today announced a partnership with @StellarOrg. Read the full press release here: https://t.co/2UbBxTY8Sw pic.twitter.com/HzSd3cvNcx

— MoneyGram International (@MoneyGram) October 6, 2021

Moreover, the proposed partnership will allow a whole segment of cash-using customers to access cryptocurrency services, notes Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation. As such, MoneyGram believes the partnership would help increase the utility and liquidity of cryptocurrencies while helping customers participate in the digital economy.

Meanwhile, MoneyGram’s decision of partnering with Ripple’s chief rival shows that the remittance firm wants to move forward and shake off its experience with Ripple. In detail, the firm partnered with Ripple in 2019 to use RippleNet as part of the exchange settlements process for international remittances.

MoneyGram received XRP as financial incentives, while Ripple got an equity stake in the company. However, the partnership came to a screeching halt in March 2021 after the SEC initiated legal proceedings against Ripple. At the time, both parties committed to reconsidering the relationship once the SEC dispute was over.

Now, with Stellar entering the scene, it seems MoneyGram has no interest in waiting for Ripple to clear its name, as it takes another step to become a blockchain-friendly organization. Ironically, one of Stellar’s co-founders, Jed McCaleb, was also a co-founder of Ripple before parting ways.

Mr. Holmes disagrees with the view that the Stellar tie-up is a replacement. He states that Ripple’s focus was more on the backend side of the operations.

This [Partnership with Stellar], I think, is actually even more exciting because it brings the frontend consumer side to it

Alex Holmes, MoneyGram International CEO on partnering with Stellar after Ripple.

Stellar Price Trends

Though XLM reacted positively to the news on Wednesday, the Stellar token had a rocky Thursday, falling nearly 9.4% between high ($0.371) to low ($0.336) levels. In addition, the Stellar token is still bearish in the long-term range, with XLM’s 200-day Moving Average acting as resistance at $0.377.

XLM needs to flip the 200-day MA into support for any sustained bull run to happen.

Also Read: XRP holders have a “seat at the table” in SEC vs. Ripple case, but the token continues to consolidate.

If bulls manage to break above 200-day MA resistance, the next target would be at $0.393. Further resistance is at $0.409, a price level that XLM has breached only five times since June 4. $0.409 also acted as resistance during XLM’s ATH bull run in May. A break and consolidation above it would certainly create a positive sentiment for Stellar Lumens.

On the other hand, a downward movement would find support at $0.332, near XLM’s 50-day MA line. XLM has additional support near its 26-day Exponential MA, at $0.314, followed by support at $0.290.

Meanwhile, trend-based momentum oscillator MACD continues to be bullish for XLM. The MACD line (difference of 12-day and 26-day EMA) moved above the MACD signal line (9-day EMA of MACD) on Oct 1, charting a bullish crossover for XLM.

Moreover, the MACD histogram, which charts the difference between MACD and its signal line, continues to plot histograms of increasing magnitude, indicating strong bullish momentum in favor of XLM.

The relative strength index, or RSI, is neutral for XLM with a value of 62.65. At the time of writing, XLM was trading at $0.351, down 1.76% on the day.