MoneyGram is stepping back from its partnership with Ripple Labs citing the legal uncertainty swirling around the blockchain startup’s XRP token.
The money transfer company said Monday it “is not planning for any benefit from Ripple market development fees in the first quarter” of 2021, a break from last year’s Q1 when MoneyGram banked $12.1 million in such fees.
Ripple has been paying MoneyGram to use the XRP token in international settlement since 2019 and first engaging in a pilot agreement with the service in 2018. Since then, MoneyGram has netted $61.5 million in “market development fees” from Ripple.
Those payments now appear to be on hold, at least until the legal rift between Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission clears up. SEC prosecutors claim XRP is an unregistered security in violation of U.S. investments law, an assertion Ripple Labs has vowed to fight.