MoneyGram International Inc. The money transfer giant has seen their share price rocket over 155% in early trading this week after the company announced a partnership with blockchain company Ripple. This huge rally by the company brings back a very similar feeling to that of 2017, when there was a huge tornado of small cap stocks whose valuations multiplied as they started to re brand as blockchain companies.

The main differentiating factor here in 2019 is that MoneyGram is an already well established company that boasts 2400 staff, and revenue generation of almost $1.5 Billion USD annually. We are not looking at a re branded unprofitable fresh company that’s head office is a garage in the suburbs of London, and when we are talking Ripple and MoneyGram, this deal comes with a real money investment, as Ripple have invested over $30 Million USD in shares and warrants with the view to increase their investment by another $20 Million.
With this large investment by Ripple, we will see the company become the main partner for MoneyGram’s cross border transactions, where they will make the most of their digital assets, this in turn will greatly reduce the operation costs and working capital requirements. A spokesman for MoneyGram said in a statement on Monday that the share price of the company gained rapidly with 14 times the three month daily average volume being traded within the first ten minutes of the market being open.

Chief Executive of financial consultancy at Devere group Nigel Green said in a note “The tie-up with MoneyGram and Ripple underscores two key points -- first, investment into and from the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector is coming off the sidelines, second, the impact of this flow is being welcomed by investors in a broader sense.” this huge move comes as Facebook have announced recently their plans for a new crypto currency which they are looking to trade on a global scale, in a similar way to the USD. With all the positive stigma, and the big names becoming more heavily involved in alternative currencies, this is really propelling blockchain and crypto currencies to be seen in a more standard light. After recent controversies it would seem that the unveiling of Facebook’s new currency Libra has hit it off with investors, and the share price has seen gains of upwards 1.4%. On Monday following the news of more investments into Crypto currencies Bitcoin climbed to its highest level since May of 2018 after breaching $9,000 USD. Bitcoin Bull Thomas Lee said that the digital currency market could see a “fear of missing out” rally which could propel bitcoin to reach $40,000 USD over the course of the next few months.


Ryan Webb – Walter International