MoneyGram Brings Cash-To-Crypto Ramps To Solana

MoneyGram has extended MoneyGram Ramps, its cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash API, to Solana, the company said Tuesday. Rift, a self-custody trading app, is the first Solana wallet to integrate it.

Until now, Solana wallets that wanted to route users into MoneyGram's retail cash network had to bridge USDC to Stellar first, through third-party providers such as Allbridge Core or Bridge.xyz, according to MoneyGram's developer documentation. Ramps supported on- and off-ramps only for USDC on Stellar, using the SEP-24 protocol. Going native on Solana removes the bridging step on a chain that holds $15.73 billion in stablecoins, per DefiLlama.

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 integrating Ramps get 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."

Validator First, Ramps Second

The launch follows MoneyGram's June 22 move to run a Solana validator and join the Solana Developer Platform, the Foundation's API layer for institutions building payments 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 Takes The First Slot

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 does not hold user keys, according to its site, and lists a16z, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pantera Capital as backers. MoneyGram described the integration as the start of broader adoption across Solana wallets without naming further partners.

Stellar Still Has MGUSD

MoneyGram's stablecoin work remains on Stellar. The company launched MGUSD, a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Stripe subsidiary Bridge, on that chain on June 2, and extended its Stellar Development Foundation partnership on April 22. The Solana launch applies to the ramp layer only.

Western Union reached the same ecosystem with a token, launching its USDPT stablecoin on Solana with Anchorage Digital in May.

SOL traded at $75.93 at publication time, down 1.6% over 24 hours on $1.39 billion of volume, according to CoinGecko.