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Remittances company MoneyGram International has considered buying bitcoin as a treasury management strategy, and it may float the idea with its new private equity owner.

Why it matters: It would be uncommon to see a private-equity-backed company take on such direct risk in crypto.

Catch up quick: Madison Dearborn took MoneyGram private for roughly $1.8 billion in 2023.

MoneyGram first considered the strategy when it was publicly traded, but the proposal was shot down by its board of directors, CEO Alex Holmes told Axios on stage at the Stellar Meridian conference Tuesday.

"We haven't really re-imagined that with the new guys, but I don't think it's a bad idea at all," he continued. "I'll bring it up again — you've got to be told no, right? Otherwise you'll never try."

As a remittances company offering cash-in and cash-out in over 135 currencies, the company already takes on currency risk. Having a position in bitcoin, says Holmes, could help balance out some of that.

Zooming out: in recent years, a number of public companies — MicroStrategy, Tesla and Block — have bought bitcoin and held the asset in reserve as a way to manage their cash balances.

MicroStrategy in particular has stood out. It is the largest corporate holder of crypto and considers bitcoin its main reserve asset.

The company began its buying spree back in 2020 and has continued to grow its pile, recently paying $458.2 million in mid-September for 7,420 additional tokens.

It's been a lucrative bet, even as it's drawn criticism for putting too much in one basket. The company has paid about $9.9 billion in total for about 252,220 bitcoin, according to an SEC filing. That holding is now worth $171.1 billion.

When asked if MoneyGram would jump into bitcoin as aggressively as MicroStrategy, Holmes responded, "no."

The big picture: Holmes' comments come as the company has increasingly developed crypto-related products, seeing it as a potential long-term growth driver in cross-border payments.

On Tuesday, the company launched a non-custodial wallet that lets its users transfer stablecoin USDC — empowering the receiver to decide when they want to cash out into a different currency and cutting out banks in the transaction process.

Still, it remains a relatively small part of the overall business. "I'm just going to throw out a number — 3%," Holmes said when asked to estimate how much revenue its crypto-related services brought in for the business.

MoneyGram CEO weighs buying bitcoin for treasury management

It's uncommon for a private-equity backed player take on such direct risk in crypto.

Alex Holmes, CEO at MoneyGram talks at Meridian.

Lucinda Shen and Moneygram CEO Alex Holmes. Photo courtesy of Okuru Captions for Stellar

Fintech

Remittances company MoneyGram International has considered buying bitcoin as a treasury management strategy, and it may float the idea with its new private equity owner.Why it matters: It would be uncommon to see a private-equity-backed company take on such direct risk in crypto.

MoneyGram CEO weighs buying bitcoin for treasury management

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