Wire service MoneyGram to release non-custodial crypto wallet in 2024

Global money wire service MoneyGram is expanding its footprint in the world of crypto and digital payments.

The company is launching its own non-custodial digital wallet that will allow customers to convert fiat to crypto and vice versa, MoneyGram said in a statement. Additionally, MoneyGram emphasized that the new wallet, set to be released in the first quarter of 2024, will "leverage stablecoin technology."

"Our vision to connect the world's communities, by empowering our customers through innovative financial solutions, takes another step forward today," MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes said in the statement. "Through the services we provide in partnership with [Stellar XLM +2.14% Development Foundation], MoneyGram has made strides to create equitable access to the global financial system, having become the single largest fiat on and off-ramp provider offering blockchain access worldwide."

Last month, the Stellar Development Foundation, or SDF, announced it had made a strategic investment in MoneyGram. SDF, which builds on the Stellar blockchain, forged a partnership with MoneyGram two years ago in order to facilitate crypto payments and to launch a cash-to-crypto service.

In 2022, MoneyGram rolled out a fiat on and off-ramp service for digital wallets that it then expanded to eight digital wallets on the Stellar blockchain, the company's statement said. It provides "cash-out" in more than 180 countries and "cash-in" in over 30 countries, MoneyGram also said.

MoneyGram previously had a partnership with Ripple, a cryptocurrency that was a precurser to Stellar, but this ended in early 2021.