MoneyGram Ramps Goes Live on Solana, Enabling Cash Deposits in 25+ Countries

MoneyGram said Tuesday it has expanded MoneyGram Ramps—its cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash API—to Solana. Self-custody trading app Rift is the first Solana wallet to integrate the service. Until now, Solana wallets seeking to tap MoneyGram's retail cash network typically had to bridge USDC to Stellar first, using third-party providers such as Allbridge Core or Bridge.xyz, according to MoneyGram's developer documentation. Ramps previously supported on- and off-ramps only for USDC on Stellar via the SEP-24 protocol. By going native on Solana, the integration removes the bridging step on a chain that holds $15.73 billion in stablecoins, per DefiLlama. MoneyGram Ramps supports cash deposits in more than 25 countries and cash withdrawals in more than 170 countries and territories. MoneyGram operates nearly 500,000 retail locations and serves more than 60 million customers. The company said developers can obtain instant API credentials and sandbox access without building banking integrations. "The future of payments is built on access," said Anthony Soohoo, chairman and CEO of MoneyGram. "Every platform we connect expands the reach of our network." The rollout follows MoneyGram's June 22 move to run a Solana validator and join the Solana Developer Platform, the Solana Foundation's API layer for institutions building payment and stablecoin products on the chain. Mastercard, Worldpay and Western Union are also on the platform, which launched in March. Ramps is now embedded in its payments module. MoneyGram became a Solana validator after taking validator roles on Tempo and Midnight, and after partnering with Tempo as an anchor remittance validator in May. "By connecting our ecosystem to MoneyGram's global payments network through MoneyGram Ramps, developers are able to more easily build financial applications with real-world utility at global scale," said Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation. Rift is a mobile trading app offering equities, commodities, crypto, forex and perpetual futures, with lending routed through Solana money market Kamino Finance. The app says it does not hold user keys and lists a16z, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pantera Capital as backers. MoneyGram described the Rift integration as an opening step toward broader adoption across Solana wallets, without naming additional partners. MoneyGram's stablecoin efforts remain centered on Stellar. The company launched MGUSD, a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Stripe subsidiary Bridge, on Stellar on June 2, and extended its Stellar Development Foundation partnership on April 22. The Solana expansion applies to the ramp layer only. Western Union has also entered the Solana stablecoin ecosystem, launching its USDPT stablecoin on Solana with Anchorage Digital in May. SOL traded at $75.93 at publication time, down 1.6% over the past 24 hours on $1.39 billion in volume, according to CoinGecko.