Moneygram chooses Colombia to launch its Stablecoins app

Moneygram, an international money transfer company, took a step towards the digital world by adopting the stablecoins backed by the dollar and the liquidations in cryptocurrency networks such as the basis of its new mobile application. The launch will begin in Colombia, where the company has more than 6,000 branches and the flow of remittances is among the most important in the region.

The new Moneygram application works with USD Coin (USDC)the stablecoin issued by Circle, and takes advantage of the Stellar network to process rapid and economic transactions.

Thus, users will be able to receive notifications directly on their phone and immediately access their funds through a wallet that incorporates the Payment Infrastructure of CrossMint, a cryptocurrency and payments platform with stable currencies.

According to a statement issued on September 17, the new Moneygram application is available at Apple App Store and Google Play, although Colombian users must join a waiting list for the approval of accounts. This will allow them to store balance and turn it into cash at any time. In the future, users will be able to use their balance for online purchases or local shops and obtain rewards for it.

Currently, Moneygram has about half a million care points worldwide and facilitates transfers through more than 20,000 remittance runners.

According to US media, the Executive Director of Moneygram, Anthony Soohoo, explained that Colombia’s choice is not accidentalbecause the households of that country receive more remittances than they send abroad, while the local weight has lost more than 40% of its value in the last four years.

For Soohoo, Stablecoins could have an impact comparable to that at the time they had key tools such as calculation sheets in personal computer science, web browsers or GPS on mobile phones.

«They are the star application of cryptocurrencies and we are barely seeing the beginning of what they can offer,» said Soohoo, highlighting that they allow users to maintain stable value and specify payments with immediate liquidation.

Moneygram’s impulse towards the Stablecoins coincides with a generalized growth of this type of assets in the Colombian Fintech ecosystem. As Cryptonotics reported, a recent Finnovista report clarified that currently 13.7% of the country’s fintech already integrate stable currencies into their services and this figure is expected to exceed 28% by 2026, doubleing its current presence. Its use is mainly concentrated on digital wallets, savings solutions and remittances.