MoneyGram CEO Alexander Holmes says the payments giant has now sent $100 million in total volume through Ripple’s XRP-based payment solution, ODL.
Holmes revealed the million-dollar milestone in part two of an interview with CNN.
“We went live with Ripple at the end of July. Since then, on a cumulative basis, we just the other day surpassed $100 million in total volume that we’ve pushed through the platform.”
According to Holmes, MoneyGram plans to expand its use of the liquidity solution.
But there’s a catch. In order to expand the platform and introduce new corridors, Holmes says Ripple will have to bring new clients on board and boost the volume to ensure that there’s actually enough liquidity.
“What’s interesting about what Ripple is trying to do is they really are trying to take on some of the older processes, traditional bank transfers and traditional Swift transfers in terms of how companies move dollars through banks or however that may be. So what’s happening right now is these markets have to be built…
But like any efficient market, you need a buyer and a seller. So if we’re buying and selling, we need others out there as well buying and selling on the back end.
Holmes says MoneyGram is still experimenting with the technology, which uses XRP as a bridge between fiat currencies.
“We’re doing things with Mexican peso, Filipino peso, Australian dollar. But it’s still very small. And so the impact today isn’t where I think it will be in five to ten years from now. But where it is today is actually enabling us to think about how we can do this more innovatively, how we can actually drive improvement and what it should and could look like in the coming days and months.
It’s very, very new. So this is nascent technology. We’re learning a lot as we roll this out and really in some respects, it’s changing and innovating as we move along. It’s new. It’s very different. But it’s certainly providing a lot of the tangible results that we want to see as we drive it forward.”
Ripple and MoneyGram partnered back in June, and Ripple recently completed its commitment to buy a $50-million stake in the company.
More of the conversation with @MoneyGram CEO @walexholmes talking about the @Ripple partnership, corridor expansion, volume growth & maybe one day replacing the SWIFT payment system — "those are large aspirations." ? $XRP pic.twitter.com/ACoxowG8yU
— Julia Chatterley (@jchatterleyCNN) December 17, 2019
