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Further proof that Bitcoin has hit the mainstream.
MoneyGram Adopting BTC
MoneyGram will start offering Bitcoin to customers, the firm announced Wednesday.
The U.S. company, best known for facilitating wire transfers, is partnering with Coinme to allow customers to buy and sell crypto with cash. Coinme operates an exchange service via physical ATMs. It has over 5,600 locations today.
Alex Holmes, chairman and CEO of MoneyGram, stated that the move was a pioneering step into the digital assets space. He 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.”
The process will work differently to buying digital assets through exchanges like Coinbase or Uniswap. To buy or sell Bitcoin, MoneyGram customers will need to use the Coinme app to get a price quote. Once that’s locked in, they’ll be required to show it to MoneyGram to approve the transaction.
MoneyGram will initially launch the service at 12,000 locations in May, before adding a further 5,000 next month. It’s projected to offer Bitcoin at 20,000 outlets within the next few months. The locations will be restricted to the U.S.
The news is only the latest in a series of updates showing that crypto—and specifically Bitcoin—is pervading the mainstream. In the last few months alone, the digital asset has gained support from apps like PayPal and Venmo, while major investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley appear to be jumping into the space en masse.
Then there are the companies that have added Bitcoin to their balance sheets, among them MicroStrategy and Tesla. This week, Mark Zuckerberg shared a photo revealing that he owned two goats named “Max” and “Bitcoin,” reigniting rumors that Facebook may soon announce a move to adopt the asset. Bitcoin is still the most popular cryptocurrency by some distance, holding a market cap of over $1 trillion.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature had exposure to UNI in a cryptocurrency index.