MoneyGram users in the US can now buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency via the money transfer firm's mobile app.

Available to customers in nearly all US states for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, MoneyGram plans to expand the service to more markets and more coins.

The feature is the fruit of MoneyGram's partnership with Coinme, a US crypto outfit in which MoneyGram invested early this year. The partners already work together to let people buy and sell bitcoin at some MoneyGram locations.

MoneyGram has been aggressively pursuing crypto opportunities to ensure it does not get left behind in the blockchain era. The firm teamed up with Ripple back in 2019, tapping the blockchain startup's XRP digital currency for cross-border payment and foreign exchange settlement.

That partnership ended over a regulatory dust-up with the Securities and Exchange Commission but MoneyGram has since joined forces with rival blockchain network Stellar to support instant money transfers using the USDC stablecoin.

Alex Holmes, CEO, MoneyGram, says: "Cryptocurrencies are additive to everything we're doing at MoneyGram. From dollars to euros to yen and so on, MoneyGram enables instant access to over 120 currencies around the globe, and we see crypto and digital currencies as another input and output option."