Key facts
- MoneyGram CEO Anthony Soohoo believes blockchain technology is most effective when customers are unaware of its use.
- The company's strategy focuses on leveraging blockchain to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper, and more transparent.
- MoneyGram has expanded its blockchain partnerships beyond Stellar to include validator roles on Solana and Tempo.
- The MGUSD stablecoin is intended for use within MoneyGram's own payment ecosystem to control costs and develop new financial products.
- Soohoo sees blockchain as an infrastructure improvement rather than a consumer-facing feature, aiming to democratize financial services for underbanked customers.
MoneyGram CEO Anthony Soohoo has articulated the company's strategy for integrating blockchain technology, emphasizing that its greatest utility lies in making cross-border payments more efficient without customers needing to understand the underlying mechanics. Soohoo explained in an interview with CoinDesk that MoneyGram's approach has evolved from early experimentation to a focus on modernizing its global payment infrastructure.
Soohoo highlighted that for MoneyGram's customer base, primarily individuals sending money to friends and family abroad, speed and cost are paramount. Traditional remittance processes can be slow and expensive due to reliance on banking hours and multiple intermediaries. MoneyGram believes blockchain can streamline these operations, enabling 24/7 settlement and reducing costs, which the company hopes to pass on to customers.
While Stellar has been a key partner for MoneyGram's blockchain initiatives over the past five years, the company is expanding its reach by becoming a validator on the Solana and Tempo networks. Soohoo views these partnerships not for speculative crypto trading, but for replacing legacy financial systems. He compared the invisibility of blockchain to the processor in an iPhone, where users care about performance, not the specific technology.
This philosophy extends to MoneyGram's stablecoin strategy. The MGUSD stablecoin is designed for internal use within MoneyGram's payment ecosystem, aiming to provide greater control over costs and facilitate the development of new financial products such as wallet features and rewards programs. Soohoo described this as a move toward vertical integration, questioning why a MoneyGram-to-MoneyGram transfer shouldn't use their own coin.
Soohoo, who joined MoneyGram about 18 months ago, noted that his perspective on blockchain and digital currencies has broadened, finding the opportunity larger than initially anticipated. He cautioned that many financial institutions focus too much on announcing initiatives rather than solving customer problems, emphasizing that these are infrastructure conversations, not consumer-facing ones.
Looking ahead, MoneyGram aims to become a primary financial institution for its underbanked customers over the next three to five years, utilizing blockchain as a tool to democratize access to financial services.