Today, MoneyGram announced that it supports the purchase of bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin cryptocurrencies through the MoneyGram app. The remittance company has been using cryptocurrencies and blockchain for some time. The above steps were a path to enable cross-border payments and resulted in inflows and outflows in fiat currencies, even if they were stablecoins. Now the on and off amps can be cryptocurrencies.

It follows news earlier in the year that MoneyGram bought a minority stake in crypto on-ramp CoinMe, a crypto exchange that is driving the latest move.

“Cryptocurrency adds to everything we do at MoneyGram. From dollars to euros to yen and so on,” said Alex Holmes, president and CEO of MoneyGram. “We see cryptocurrencies and digital currencies as another in and out option.”

In addition to Coinme, MoneyGram has partnered with G-Coin, Stellar, and Circle’s USDC stablecoin to support stablecoin payments.

These initiatives are relatively recent over the past year, but MoneyGram signed its first blockchain deal in 2019 with Ripple. The crypto firm invested $50 million in MoneyGram to use the Ripple On Demand Liquidity solution that enables cross-border payments using the XRP cryptocurrency as an intermediate currency.

However, in late 2020, the SEC sued Ripple, claiming that XRP was a security. MoneyGram suspended its agreement with Ripple in February 2021, and a few weeks later, Ripple announced that it had mutually terminated. According to Ripple, MoneyGram had processed billions in transfers using their solution.

“As consumer interest in digital currencies continues to accelerate, we are uniquely positioned to meet that demand and bridge the gap between blockchain and traditional financial services thanks to our global network, leading compliance solutions and strong culture. of fintech innovation,” said Holmes.