In XRP, Ripple’s Second MoneyGram Investment Would be 50% Pricier

If Ripple, an American blockchain company focusing on payments technologies, would have used XRP to pay for MoneyGram shares, the second part of the deal would have been 50% more expensive.

On Monday, the company said it has made the final USD 20 million investment in MoneyGram, a major money transfer company, equity pursuant to Ripple’s original USD 50 million equity investment commitment made earlier this year. The buyer paid USD 4.1 per share in both transactions.

The company did not provide more details on the payment date and structure. However, if it somehow involved XRP, the second part of the transaction might have been 50% more expensive, as the price of XRP is down by c. 34% since June, when the acquisition was announced.

In June, one share of MoneyGram was worth c. XRP 10 and now it’s c. XRP 15.

XRP price chart:

However, as details are scarce, it’s anyone’s guess whether the company used its USD funds or sold some of its XRP in order to pay for the shares.

In October, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said that the company has more than USD 305 million in cash in the bank and owns some USD 15 billion worth of XRP.

In either case, after the most recent investment, Ripple said it will own 9.95% of the outstanding common stock of MoneyGram, and approximately 15% on a fully-diluted basis including non-voting warrants held by Ripple.

“This funding will support MoneyGram’s operations as the company continues to increase volume and use of On-Demand Liquidity, Ripple’s product that leverages the digital asset XRP to send money,” the company explained.

MoneyGram said it is currently moving approximately 10% of its Mexican Peso foreign exchange trading volume through On-Demand Liquidity and has already started transacting in four additional cross-border corridors, including Europe, Australia and the Philippines since June.

Meanwile, in October, Ripple partnered with Finastra, a major UK-based fintech company, to offer Ripple’s blockchain technology through Finastra’s payments solutions to support fast cross-border payments.

At pixel time (06:33 UTC), XRP trades at c. USD 0.22 and is up by 6% in a day. The price is down by 12% in a week and by 26% in a month, increasing its annual loss to 40%.