- MoneyGram has purchased a 4% stake in crypto exchanger CoinMe
- CoinMe operated over 8,500 cryptocurrency kiosks in the U.S.
- MoneyGram says the move reinforces its faith in the crypto sector
MoneyGram has strengthened its ties with the cryptocurrency industry by buying a 4% stake in CoinMe in a recent Series A financing round. MoneyGram, which last October signed a deal with Steller to use its blockchain for stablecoin transactions, said that the stake allowed it to build on its desire to be a “compliant bridge to connect digital assets to local fiat currency” and reinforces the faith that the company has in the cryptocurrency space.
MoneyGram Dives Deeper into the Crypto Swamp
MoneyGram announced the purchase of the stake on Wednesday, saying that it gave the money transmitter “a direct ownership position in one of the first and fastest growing cryptocurrency companies in the world”. CoinMe was the first licensed Bitcoin ATM company in the U.S. with over 8,500 kiosks in 48 states, mainly thanks to its collaboration with Coinstar.
MoneyGram Chairman and CEO Alex Holmes, said in its press release that the purchase reinforced the company’s bullishness on the future of cryptocurrencies:
At MoneyGram, we continue to be bullish on the vast opportunities that exist in the ever-growing world of cryptocurrency and our ability to operate as a compliant bridge to connect digital assets to local fiat currency. Our investment in Coinme further strengthens our partnership and compliments our shared vision to expand access to digital assets and cryptocurrencies.
MoneyGram was famously at the heart of a ‘deal’ with Ripple in 2019 to use its xRapid service, but it turned out that Ripple was paying MoneyGram to use its service. The deal was scrapped last year after Ripple was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission before announcing a deal with Stellar where MoneyGram would use the Ripple fork to operate a trial USDC remittance program.
