MoneyGram opens 500,000 cash locations to Solana developers

MoneyGram CEO Anthony Soohoo says any developer building on Solana can now plug directly into the company's cash network, u.Today reported, citing a Bloomberg Crypto interview. "Anyone building on Solana can use our off-ramp, the ability to put cash in or cash out, at any of our 500,000 retail locations," Soohoo said. "We're trying to connect the real world with the digital world."

MoneyGram switched on its Ramps service for Solana on August 11, giving wallets, exchanges, and developers a single API to move between physical cash and digital assets without routing through another chain first. The self-custody trading app Rift became the first Solana wallet to integrate it. On the deposit side, a customer hands over local currency at a retail location, MoneyGram runs identity checks, then credits the stablecoin equivalent to the customer's connected Solana wallet. On the withdrawal side, a user sends stablecoins from an app, the funds settle on-chain, and the recipient collects local currency at a participating MoneyGram agent, no bank account required on either end.

“I would say the biggest announcement we make with Solana is about access. We see a future for payments where it is going to be open, and we would provide access to where the customers are.”

— Anthony Soohoo, CEO, MoneyGram

Ramps previously ran only on Stellar, where MoneyGram has operated a cash-to-USDC service since a 2022 partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation, supporting cash deposits in more than 25 countries and cash withdrawals in more than 170. The Solana rollout carries the same country coverage but removes the bridging step Solana-based apps previously needed to reach it. MoneyGram also began running a Solana validator on June 22, staking SOL directly rather than just building an application on top of the network, and joined the Solana Developer Platform alongside Mastercard, Worldpay, and Western Union.

• MoneyGram retail locations now reachable from Solana: 500,000
• Countries with cash withdrawal access: more than 170
• Countries with cash deposit access: more than 25
• Solana Ramps launch date: August 11, 2026
• Solana's total stablecoin liquidity at launch: about $15.73 billion, per DefiLlama

MoneyGram isn't alone in treating its retail footprint as programmable infrastructure. Western Union took a different route on the same chain, launching its own branded USDPT stablecoin rather than opening its cash network directly to outside developers. South Korean payments processor KSNET took an approach closer to MoneyGram's, connecting 330,000 merchant terminals to Solana settlement rather than building a single branded product. MoneyGram hasn't disclosed transaction volume for either its Stellar or Solana rails, and the company has named only one live Solana wallet integration so far. How many apps actually route users through Ramps over the next few months will say more about the deal's reach than Wednesday's announcement does.

The rollout has real gaps for now. MoneyGram's own product page lists bank transfers, mobile wallet withdrawals, and debit or bank account funding as features still marked "coming soon," with no confirmed release date attached. US access isn't universal at launch either: the product page excludes Alaska, Louisiana, Hawaii, and New York. MoneyGram brings more than 85 years of payments history and a retail footprint most fintech competitors can't replicate quickly, which is part of why a company like Western Union is racing to stake out its own position on the same rails rather than ceding the ground.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.