Moneygram brings bitcoin to 20,000 physical locations in the US

Yesterday MoneyGram announced a new partnership with Coinme to make it quick and easy to buy and sell bitcoin for cash through its points of sale.

Excited to announce our partnership with @Coinme🎉

Starting today, you can buy and sell #Bitcoin from Coinme with cash at participating MoneyGram locations, making it easy to enter the exciting world of cryptocurrency. https://t.co/19b0hnmFrD

— MoneyGram (@MoneyGram) May 12, 2021

Coinme operates a licensed crypto exchange in the US. It was founded in 2014 and offers an enterprise-grade API that provides a simple and secure way to buy, sell, store and manage digital currencies. 

Through this new partnership, MoneyGram wants to make it easier to finance cash payments for digital currency purchases, bringing bitcoin to thousands of new outlets in the US, with plans to expand to eventually reach other international markets in the second half of 2021.

MoneyGram president and CEO Alex Holmes said: 

“This innovative partnership opens our business to an entirely new customer segment as we are the first to pioneer a crypto-to-cash model by building a bridge with Coinme to connect bitcoin to local fiat currency. Our unique, global network is an incredibly valuable asset, and we’re excited to open our platform to Coinme as we increasingly look to capture new growth by monetizing our network to new use-cases”.

Moneygram from Ripple to Bitcoin

The curious thing is that some time ago MoneyGram had entered into a partnership with Ripple, which then ended shortly after the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple itself. 

Now, after exiting the Ripple environment, it is returning to the cryptocurrency one with an agreement with a classic crypto exchange to facilitate the physical buying and selling of bitcoin for cash.  

Indeed, the integration of MoneyGram and Coinme will provide a quick and easy way to buy bitcoin for cash, or sell bitcoin by withdrawing cash. The project is specifically designed for those who have never used BTC before, and thanks to the approximately 20,000 physical locations will expand access to bitcoin, and potentially other digital currencies, creating thousands of new outlets to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

The service will be available at selected MoneyGram locations in the US starting as early as the next few weeks. Additional countries and cryptocurrencies will be made available at a later date. 

Coinme CEO Neil Bergquist added: 

“MoneyGram has spent more than 80 years building one of the world’s largest P2P payment networks. By integrating its global infrastructure with our licensed crypto exchange technology, we can enable the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies across its system using cash. This is a major milestone for the bitcoin and cryptocurrency communities, and for the millions of people who will benefit from a trusted, easy and affordable onramp to digital currency”.