Ripple, a blockchain-focused startup based in San Francisco, announced a new partnership with money transfer giant MoneyGram International (NASDAQ:MGI) on Thursday. The move helped Ripple’s popular bitcoin alternative, XRP, move higher on the day—defying a nearly-universal cryptocurrency selloff.
The new partnership will witness MoneyGram test the use of XRP through Ripple’s new xRapid service, which is designed to help provide liquidity to financial companies (also read: What Investors Need to Know About Ripple, Bitcoin's Cryptocurrency Rival).
“XRP remains the most efficient digital asset for payments with transaction fees at just fractions of a penny, compared to Bitcoin fees of about $30 per transaction. Similarly, the average transaction time for XRP is 2-3 seconds with other top digital assets ranging from 15 minutes to an hour,” the companies said in a statement.
Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse also mentioned that the partnership will help demonstrate XRP’s usefulness in lowering costs for money transfers between friends and families. The CEO has previously argued that XRP would eliminate the need for money transfer outlets to hold local currency accounts in distant or remote locations.
Meanwhile, MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes is optimistic that Ripple is the right partner to help his company cash in on the growing benefits of its underlying technology.
“Every day blockchain technology is changing the norm and encouraging innovation. Ripple is at the forefront of blockchain technology and we look forward to piloting xRapid. We’re hopeful it will increase efficiency and improve services to MoneyGram’s customers,” he said.
Shares of MoneyGram International opened more than 11% higher on Thursday, but the stock would eventually settle roughly 2.2% above its previous close. According to CoinMarketCap.com, XRP has gained just over 3.75% over the past 24 hours.
XRP is the third-largest digital currency in terms of total market capitalization, trailing only bitcoin and Ethereum. These two cryptocurrencies have slipped 7.04% and 9.10%, respectively, within the past day.
Ripple is one of just two top-ten cryptocurrencies in the green today. The other, Stellar, gained about 5.53%. Other notable coins shedding value on Thursday include Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, and Litecoin.
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