Report said that Ripple and MoneyGram have officially terminated their partnership, as both the companies are committed to revisiting some form of partnership together in the future.
It has been reported that Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, noted that together, Ripple and MoneyGram processed billions of dollars through Ripple’s RippleNet and On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) services.
He said:
“While the lack of a crypto reg framework has needlessly muddied the waters for U.S. businesses & consumers, there’s no denying what Ripple and MGI have achieved together.”
However, Garlinghouse has repeatedly accused US lawmakers of stifling the crypto sector by failing to establish clear regulatory guidelines. Speaking to financial outlet Axios on March 8, he asserted the US government’s assertion that Ripple’s XRP token is security has negative impacts on the crypto industry at large.
He added:
“That’s why I say this isn’t just bad for Ripple, it’s bad for crypto broadly here in the United States. And it’s driving that activity, it’s driving that entrepreneurial activity outside the United States.”
The report said that the strategic partnership between the two firms was officially announced in June 2019, but MoneyGram had been utilizing Ripple’s xRapid product as part of its cross-border payments process since early 2018. The agreement between the two companies was due to expire in 2023.
Likewise, MoneyGram suspended the partnership with Ripple in late February after the US SEC filed a complaint against Ripple Labs alleging securities violations in December 2020.
Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse has ended his firm’s partnership with MoneyGram, accusing U.S. lawmakers of muddying the regulatory waters. https://t.co/I51rLr3qA8 — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) March 9, 2021
That same month, the payments firm stated that it does not utilize the ODL platform or RippleNet for direct transfers of consumer funds and is not a party to the SEC action. In early March, MoneyGram was sued in a California court over allegedly false statements made regarding its partnership with Ripple Labs and XRP cryptocurrency.
The class-action lawsuit was submitted by law firm Rosen on behalf of investors who purchased securities from MoneyGram between June 17, 2019, and February 22, 2021.
Thus, MoneyGram stock had fallen 9% in after-hours trading while XRP was up 2% on the day at $0.48.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Bio Spectrum Asia