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- The end of the Ripple versus SEC lawsuit might help reignite the old MoneyGram partnership.
- The firm might also be pivoting towards RWA through the recent Archax partnership.
American blockchain payment firm Ripple Labs Inc. is finally free from the lawsuit filed against it by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This freedom came a few days ago after Judge Analisa Torres asked Ripple to pay a $125 million fine for selling XRP to institutional investors.
With this penalty, Ripple now has no pending cases and can focus on business growth, as CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted. Pending any appeal, the secondary sales of XRP on exchanges by law do not constitute an investment contract. This clarity can significantly boost the adoption of XRP in different business applications, including payments.
Will Ripple and MoneyGram Reignite Their Partnership?
Before the commencement of the legal battle, Ripple Labs maintained a very functional business relationship with American payments processor MoneyGram. At the time, the association involved using XRP for faster international payments.
As big players in the remittance industry, Ripple and MoneyGram have naturally intersecting interests. To further facilitate the terms of the deal, Ripple bought a $30 million stake in MoneyGram with a two-year bond. While they remained partners, both firms benefited greatly from each other, as their combined expertise helped raise massive revenue.
The lawsuit ended the alliance in March 2021. Notably, both firms have no more legal obstacles, and the chances of reigniting their partnership are high.
As we discussed earlier, Ripple Labs is making a very bold move to launch its stablecoin RLUSD. While the launch date for this token is unknown, the firm has launched beta testing for the stablecoin on both XRP Ledger and Ethereum.
This Ripple stablecoin move shows that the company wants to take its payment services to the next level. As a token widely used for remittances and settlement, Ripple aims to take a share of the more than $165 billion stablecoin market. Although the firm has a client network that will utilize this stablecoin, a renewed partnership with MoneyGram might help it achieve its visions faster.
Ripple Labs Beyond Payments
Since its inception, Ripple has maintained a brand identity associated with financial transactions. However, the firm has started looking at options for diversification.
As previously mentioned in our report, Ripple inked a recent partnership with Archax, an asset tokenization platform. As a platform regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Archax might help bring billions in tokenized assets to the XRP Ledger.
As discussed earlier, Brad Garlinghouse has predicted exponential growth in RWA through the Archax partnership. Though the duo has not revealed any tokenized project yet, the firm may already find a point of intersection with its stablecoin and settlement products.
Overall, the impact of this tokenization and settlement growth will be reflected in the long-term price of XRP. For now, XRP is changing hands for $0.5972, up by 2.80%. In addition, data from MarketCap shows a 1.78% surge over the past week and more than 31.55% in the past month.
This growth indicates that the price is resilient and might chart an ambitious growth course very soon.
