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Stellar Foundation Eyes Potential Acquisition of MoneyGram: Report

The supporter of blockchain-based payment services is partnering with private equity firm Advent on the potential deal.

By James Rubin
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 1:29 p.m. Published Jul 21, 2021, 11:17 p.m.
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Stellar Development Foundation has contacted MoneyGram International about a potential purchase of the 81-year-old remittance giant, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

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Stellar is partnering with private equity firm Advent on the possible deal, according to unnamed sources cited in the article. Stellar and Advent could decide not to push forward with the acquisition.

In May, San Francisco-based Stellar, a non-profit that supports a blockchain-based platform enabling consumers and institutions to move money, made a $15 million investment in AirTM, a digital wallet and peer-to-peer exchange platform based in Mexico.

MoneyGram has drawn interest from a blockchain payment services firm before. In November 2019, Ripple completed the acquisition of a $50 million stake in the firm. A year later, it sold a third of its stake. The firms agreed to wind down a partnership agreement in March this year after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought a case against Ripple.

A Stellar takeover of MoneyGram would be a cruel twist of fate for the embattled Ripple given the two crypto projects' historical rivalry. Jed McCaleb, a co-founder of Ripple, left the company in 2013 after a falling-out with the rest of the leadership to start Stellar.

UPDATE (July 22, 00:50 UTC): Adds background in last paragraph.

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