MoneyGram Executive: Crypto has vast potential in the world of finance

MoneyGram’s global head of product and innovation Youri Bebic believes that cryptocurrencies are “highly probable” to represent the future of how people will operate cross-border transactions. MoneyGram tested the digital asset’s ability to reduce the cost and increase the speed of payments after its collaboration with Ripple in 2018. After the test, Bebic reported that crypto has vast potential in the world of finance to The Institute for Robotic Process Automation and AI.

Bebic says the worst kept secret about money transfers is that the money doesn’t move across borders when someone sends money overseas. He said:

“We did a proof of concept with one cryptocurrency. We made a press release so I can answer that. That was with Ripple, where we are trying to see if we can use cryptocurrency for liquidity in the markets. Because the big secret with money transfers is the money doesn’t move. The money’s already there. We pre-fund pretty much in bank accounts all over the world and then we do value transfer. But if I were to send money from here to Mexico and literally, physically move the money at that time, it would take a lot of time.”

Bebic stated that cryptocurrencies will enable instant cross-border transactions without needing to utilize pre-funded bank accounts. However, the liquidity of crypto assets is a critical issue that still needs to be overcome. He further added:

“So cryptocurrency, if they all add scale, and if the markets are there with liquidity, could actually allow us to eliminate pre-funding of fiat, what we call regular currency in a particular country, and then use the exchanges to sell cryptocurrency against local currency and deposit that into the bank account or give it in cash for our user. So, we are obviously looking into that. We are running some pilots and trials.

And I do believe it is highly probable that this is the way money will move in the future. There is still a lack, again, of liquidity, and some markets are more advanced than others. We deal with a lot of exotic currencies… in Africa, for example, where I don’t see cryptocurrency really being traded in the near future. But in many places, like in Europe, like in Asia, it could actually be possible, and if it takes off we want to be a part of it.”