MoneyGram's Next Stop: Bringing Stablecoins into Everyday Spending

MoneyGram launches a stablecoin Visa card.

Written by: KarenZ, Foreisight News

Many people still associate MoneyGram with traditional offline remittance scenarios. However, in recent years, this established cross-border payment company has built a stablecoin, digital wallet, and cash deposit and withdrawal services around its remittance network. Now, through the MoneyGram Card, these capabilities are further integrated into Visa's spending scenarios.

On September 10, MoneyGram officially launched the MoneyGram Card—a Visa card based on stablecoin balances, initially available in Colombia. Users can directly spend their stablecoin balances from the MoneyGram App at online and offline merchants without first converting the money into local currency, withdrawing it to a bank account, or going to a physical location to withdraw cash.

MoneyGram Card: From Receiving Remittances to Direct Card Payments

The MoneyGram Card is currently embedded in the MoneyGram App as a digital card. After completing registration and identity verification, users can manage their balances and spending records within the app and add the card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet for online shopping and offline contactless payments.

When cash is needed, users can initiate a transfer from their MoneyGram balance to themselves and then pick up local currency at a nearby MoneyGram location. MoneyGram plans to launch a physical card later in 2026, which will add ATM cash withdrawal and more usage methods in physical scenarios.

The fee schedule released alongside the product shows that the MoneyGram Card does not charge monthly maintenance fees, annual fees, digital card issuance fees, transaction fees, foreign transaction fees, or currency conversion fees. However, if there are no spending, ATM, or top-up transactions for three consecutive calendar months, the account will incur a $1 inactivity fee per month. This fee will not reduce the account balance below zero.

The fee schedule also lists prices for the upcoming physical card: the issuance fee for the physical card is $7, and the standard replacement card fee is also $7. The ATM cash withdrawal fee is $1 per transaction plus 0.65% of the cash amount; for example, withdrawing $100 incurs a fee of $1.65. ATM balance inquiries and declined transactions each cost $0.60. ATM operators or networks may also charge additional fees.

In the press release, MoneyGram referred to it as a “card powered by stablecoins,” but did not specify the exact assets. A MoneyGram spokesperson confirmed to The Block that the MoneyGram Card initially supports Circle USDC, and MoneyGram will subsequently integrate its own branded stablecoin MGUSD.

Rain, Crossmint, Stellar, and Visa Each Play Their Role

The MoneyGram Card involves four sets of infrastructure: Rain provides stablecoin card and payment infrastructure; Crossmint offers embedded wallet capabilities; Stellar supports stablecoins and related on-chain fund flows; Visa provides the merchant acceptance network. MoneyGram controls the app, customer relationships, remittance entry points, compliance processes, and offline cash networks.

For MoneyGram, the business that used to end with the completion of receiving payments has now extended to more frequent account and payment scenarios.

Five Years of Preparation: From Cash In and Out, Stablecoins, Wallets to Stablecoin Cards

Placing the MoneyGram Card back into the business trajectory of the past five years, it resembles a puzzle piece that was bound to be filled in eventually. MoneyGram's direction has always been clear: first, bring cash into the stablecoin network, and then layer on wallets, developer interfaces, digital dollars, and spending scenarios.

The operation of the MoneyGram Card on Stellar-related infrastructure is also not surprising. MoneyGram's collaboration with Stellar began in 2021. In 2021, MoneyGram established a partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation to connect cash, digital wallets, and cross-border settlements using USDC on Stellar.

By 2022, this vision officially became a user-facing cash in and out service: users could purchase USDC with cash at participating MoneyGram locations and could also convert USDC in their wallets into local currency. This allowed MoneyGram to connect its most important offline asset—its extensive global cash network—to the stablecoin network.

After completing the connection between cash and stablecoins, MoneyGram began to decide to take control of the product entry points. In September 2023, the company announced the development of a non-custodial digital wallet, planning to support users in directly sending, receiving, and exchanging digital assets. This wallet is being developed with the participation of Cheesecake Labs and continues to utilize Stellar and MoneyGram's existing fiat in and out services.

In 2025, MoneyGram pushed the same set of capabilities to both developers and regular users. For developers, MoneyGram launched MoneyGram Ramps, allowing wallets, trading platforms, and fintech applications to connect to its cash network through a single API. The underlying infrastructure continues to use Stellar and USDC.

For users, MoneyGram launched a new app in Colombia that includes stablecoin balances. Recipients can convert remittances into USDC, choose to hold it, or convert it into Colombian pesos when needed. Crossmint provides embedded wallet and stablecoin scheduling capabilities for this product. At this point, MoneyGram is not only providing a channel between stablecoins and cash but is also beginning to directly hold users' digital dollar balances.

Entering 2026, MoneyGram began to extend its reach into stablecoin issuance and blockchain infrastructure. In June, the company launched its own branded dollar stablecoin MGUSD on Stellar: Stripe's Bridge serves as the regulated issuer, M0 provides the smart contract infrastructure needed for minting and burning, and MoneyGram holds and schedules MGUSD through the Fireblocks wallet, sending it to user wallets embedded in the app. MGUSD first launched in the United States, with plans to gradually expand to other markets.

At the same time, MoneyGram's relationship with public chains has also shifted from “using the network” to “participating in running the network.” In May 2026, the company became an Anchor Remittance Validator for the payment blockchain Tempo; in June, it became an active validator node for Solana; in July, the Stellar Development Foundation announced that MoneyGram would operate a Stellar primary validator node. By August, MoneyGram Ramps officially integrated Solana, expanding from a single-chain service on Stellar to a multi-chain cash in and out network.

Looking along this path, the MoneyGram Card is not an isolated attempt to issue a card. Cash in and out solutions have resolved how stablecoins enter and exit the real world, wallets hold user balances, Ramps open up the global network, MGUSD provides its own digital dollars, and the MoneyGram Card ultimately brings these capabilities to everyday spending.

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