MoneyGram Strengthens Ties With Coinme With 4% Stake
What’s a business without strategic partnerships? Or a great idea without distribution channels? MoneyGram, the second largest money transfer platform in the world, recently announced their purchase of an approximately 4% stake in the fast rising crypto exchange company, Coinme, in a just concluded Series A investment round.
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This announcement comes as a watered effort to make exchanging crypto for cash easier and accessible to everyone, starting with Bitcoin. Coinme, a company with a big chunk of the Bitcoin ATMs market share in the U.S., had earlier partnered with MoneyGram in May, 2021 — to combine resources and services in bringing crypto to cash, and vice versa, to a larger audience.
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Alex Holmes, CEO of MoneyGram, stated in his announcement on Wednesday, the company’s intentions to maximize the variety of opportunities in the crypto space, and the company’s effort to establish itself as an authority and pioneer in bringing Bitcoin and possibly other cryptocurrencies closer to people.
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Cryptocurrencies; Bitcoin and others have experienced a massive spike in acceptance and adoption in recent times. This gradual shift from just a fiat based economy to a dual based (fiat and crypto) economy is currently in our faces, and a lot of institutions and corporations, both governmental and nongovernmental, are striving for inclusion.
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The global population has woken up to this new concept of transacting on a day-to-day basis, and several companies have risen to respond to the global awareness and adoption. While some people and the government are still skeptical about the whole digital currency idea, it has not stopped the lightning speed growth the crypto market has experienced.
CEO of Coinme, Neil Bergquist, also said in the announcement that the company is more focused on strengthening its presence as an authority in the crypto space, and looks forward to stronger partnerships like this to aid their scaling interests in the international marketplace.
What This Means For MoneyGram
MoneyGram’s partnership enables crypto users to exchange Bitcoin for cash at select locations across the U.S. through Coinme stations, which last updated on Coinme’s site, were over 22,000. The partnership in May, 2021, allowed for access to MoneyGrams service in 12,000 stations. This new announcement increases the number of service points that enable the crypto to cash exchange.
This move opens up MoneyGram to a new client base, making them a service provider for crypto users. Though they’ve mastered servicing the fiat currency population, this shift in market positioning required a number of changes they’ve quite shown they are ready for.
In a paraphrased statement, Alex Holmes stated that, “The special C2C (cash to crypto) offering with Coinme, introduced MoneyGram to a whole new market segment, and they are pleased with the progress made so far, since May 2021.”
This partnership shows MoneyGram’s effort to further establish the company as an authority figure in both fiat and digital currencies, making room for what the future holds.
