According to a Bloomberg report, Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has recently shown interest in acquiring money transfer giant MoneyGram. SDF is the company behind the development of cryptocurrency Stellar (XLM).
Another company, Advent International, an American global private equity firm, has partnered with SDF on the matter. However, the companies may still opt-out of the negotiations as nothing has been confirmed yet.
MoneyGram is a popular money transfer company with over 230,000 offices in about 200 countries and regions all over the world. The company was in partnership with Ripple until March 2021. MoneyGram was allowed to use Ripple product, ‘xRapid’for cross-border payment after Ripple bought a $30 million stake in the company.
One of the founders of Ripple was Jed McCaleb. He later left the company and founded Stellar.
However, MoneyGram reportedly terminated the contract after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple.
SDF and Advent International are not the only companies that have shown interest in MoneyGram. Earlier, companies such as Ant Group, a Chinese financial conglomerate wanted to acquire the company but failed due to resistance from regulatory authorities.
Western Union, another money transfer company, also considered acquiring its rival company but did not proceed with the idea.
Recent Investment
Stellar Development Foundation recently announced that it has invested $15 million in Airtm, a financial services company in Mexico. The company provides a digital wallet and peer-to-peer (P2P) trading platform.
According to the press release by Stellar, Airtm will integrate with Stellar by 2022. The aim is to bring global financial services to businesses and consumers in Latin America and other developing countries. Latin America is still a cash-based economy. According to reports, 91% of the transactions were made in cash in Mexico.
Ruben Galindo Steckel, CEO of Airtm, said:
“Airtm exists because financial systems throughout the developing world are not aligned with their people’s needs and global aspirations. With this investment, and our integration with the Stellar network, we will continue to advance on our mission of helping consumers and businesses throughout the developing world access stable money that holds its value, is instant to transfer with no fees, compatible with the global economy, and can be withdrawn as local currency whenever, and wherever it’s needed.”
