Investing.com - The cryptocurrency Ripple and shares in money transfer provider Moneygram Int (NASDAQ:MGI) jumped after they announced a joint payment announcement.
In press release, MoneyGram announced it will partner with Ripple to test the startup's XRP token for international payments.
“XRP remains the most efficient digital asset for payments with transaction fees at just fractions of a penny, compared to Bitcoin fees of about $30 per transaction,” the firm said in a press release.
“Similarly, the average transaction time for XRP is 2-3 seconds with other top digital assets ranging from 15 minutes to an hour,” it added.
“The inefficiencies of global payments don't just affect banks, they also affect institutions like MoneyGram,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said.
“By using a digital asset like XRP that settles in three seconds or less, they can now move money as quickly as information," he explained.
“Every day blockchain technology is changing the norm and encouraging innovation,” Moneygram chief executive Alex Holmes said.
Holmes indicated that Ripple is at the forefront of blockchain technology and MoneyGram looks forward to piloting xRapid in the hopes that it will increase efficiency and improve services for its customers.
At 10:58AM ET (15:58GMT), Ripple had pared gains of around 20% on the back of the news, but was still up 10.05% at $2.17000, while shares in MoneyGram (NASDAQ:MGI) gained 6.75& to $12.94.