By Guest Author – Sam , UK
The Ripple rose more than 11% to $2.17 after hitting its low of $1.9 during the week. This is after the second largest money transfer service adopted by major institutions, Money Gram announced that it will partner with Ripple to launch a pilot program based on the RippleNet. Ripple has been experiencing a rough week as the crypto lost its position as the second largest crypto to its rival Ethereum with a current market cap of $116 billion. If the partnership is successful, money Gram will be the first money transfer service provider to adapt the technology. Ripple boast an electronic peer-to- peer payment service that will cut down transaction cost and time with over 90%.
I’m pleased to be able to share @MoneyGram has partnered with @Ripple to use $XRP in their payment flows.
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) January 11, 2018
Money gram and Ripple XRP CEOs’ were quoted saying:
“The payments problem doesn’t just affect banks, it also affects companies like MoneyGram, which help people get money to the ones they care about,” said Brad Garlinghouse, Chief Executive Officer of Ripple. “
The CEO also posted in twitter that he was pleased to share that they had partnered with Money Gram to provide fast financial services.
“Ripple is at the forefront of blockchain technology and we look forward to piloting xRipple,” said Alex Holmes, Chief Executive Officer of MoneyGram.
The major support of Ripple XRP has been the Asian Market especially the Japanese and the South Korea. In South Korea, due to the country tough laws on moving money out of the country all cryptocurrencies are sold at a 30% premium. Last year it signed a partnership with three credit card companies in Japan to help in cross-border transactions. The Ripple XRP is centralized unlike other cryptocurrencies with its technology being hosted on its serves. Such support has been minimal in the west and Europe as the company tries to convince more institutions to adopt its technology with no success.
XRP co-founder Chris Larsen became the eighth- richest person in the world after the altcoin reached its all-time high of roughly $3.8 in the first of 2018. The tables turned, with critic and analysts criticizing XRP on the recent fall and low success rate in convincing the mainstream institutions to adopt their technology.
Recently, Ripple’s CEO claimed that by the end of 2018, the company expects to partner with the major money transfer firms. Therefore the Money gram announcement seems to be the first of such partnerships in 2017.