- MoneyGram has suspended its engagement with Ripple.
- No out-of-court settlement for the SEC case.
- XRP price takes a hit.
Ripple continues to waddle in increasing woes caused by its current face-off with the United States SEC. The lawsuit has caused some of the entities that have been in business with the company to shy away – latest being MoneyGram.
MoneyGram announced a decision to suspend its engagements with the partner in light of the pressure caused by the ongoing lawsuit. In the court case, SEC accused the blockchain company of selling unregistered securities in form of XRP. Ripple argues that XRP is a cryptocurrency. MoneyGram’s move is particularly notable considering that its partner pledged to invest $50 million in the global remittance company over the cause of the 2-year deal that was inked in 2019.
Largest company to part ways with Ripple
MoneyGram is also the largest entity to ditch the beleaguered company. The company has already halted its trading on the Ripple platform. Some crypto exchanges have suspended trading of XRP on their platforms. Others have totally delisted the crypto. Investment funds like Bitwise and Grayscale have also dumped their XRP holdings in light of the lawsuit.
In a move meant to further take a step away from Ripple’s dealings, MoneyGram earlier issued a statement saying that it does not use RippleNet or ODL (On-Demand Liquidity) for any type of transfer of user funds. ODL utilizes XRP as the intermediary cross-body payment currency.
SEC-Ripple case to go on
Perhaps one major factor that might have pushed MoneyGram into its latest action is the seemingly volatile situation between its blockchain partner and the SEC. A few days ago, the two presented a joint letter to a judge, in which they expressly informed that there would be no out-of-court settlement for the case. It’s probably possible that entities like MoneyGram hoped for an out-of-court settlement to end the lawsuit that has proven very damaging to Ripple and presented an existential threat to XRP.
MoneyGram’s announcement has caused the XRP market to take an immediate nose-dive, sending it down by over 20%. XRP is now trading at around $0.46 and registering a 10% loss in the past 7 days.
