Shortly after hearing a Securities and Exchange Commission suit against Ripple caused MoneyGram to step back from its collaboration with the blockchain company, Ripple says the partnership is fully severed.
Ripple's statement says Ripple and MoneyGram "together" have made the decision to end their current partnership, which started in 2019. "We are proud of the work we were able to accomplish in a short amount of time, as well as the impact we were able to achieve in bringing this first-of-its-kind product to market," said Ripple's statement, adding both companies are committed to revisiting the relationship in the future. "Together, we processed billions of dollars through RippleNet and On-Demand Liquidity (ODL)."
MoneyGram did not immediately return a request for comment, and MoneyGram's media relations site, blog and Twitter feed did not report the breakup as of Money afternoon. Ripple has also invested in MoneyGram, allowing MoneyGram to address its need to expand digital technology to compete with longtime rival Western Union and a slew of fintech startups offering discount digital cross-border transfers. A Ripple spokesperson says Ripple is still an investor in MoneyGram.
Ripple has made a market over the past several years by applying its blockchain to expediting transfers, removing time and expense from the process and attracting bank and e-commerce partners.
Ripple has also courted controversy, as the SEC contends the XRP token should be regulated as a security. Ripple contends XRP is distinct from Ripple. That's led to a legal battle between Ripple and the SEC, which caused MoneyGram to pull away recently from Ripple over concerns about the "association," MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes explained during its latest earnings call.
At the time, Ripple put out a statement saying the agreement with MoneyGram was still intact.
