MoneyGram has expanded its digital payments infrastructure onto the Solana blockchain, allowing developers, wallets and exchanges to connect users directly with its global cash network.
The company has launched MoneyGram Ramps on Solana, enabling users to move between cryptocurrency and local currencies through participating MoneyGram locations.
The service supports cash deposits in more than 25 countries and cash withdrawals across more than 170 countries and territories, according to MoneyGram and the Solana Foundation.
Rift has become the first Solana wallet to integrate the service.
The expansion represents another step in MoneyGram’s move beyond its traditional remittance business as the company looks to establish a larger role in digital payments and blockchain-based financial services.
Connecting Digital Assets with Cash
MoneyGram Ramps is an application programming interface, or API, designed to allow financial applications to offer cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash transactions without having to build their own banking infrastructure.
Developers integrating the service can give users access to MoneyGram’s existing network of physical locations while operating within blockchain-based applications.
The company says the technology is intended to make it easier for users to move funds between conventional currencies, stablecoins and other digital assets.
MoneyGram Ramps has also been incorporated into the payments module of the Solana Developer Platform, giving developers building on the blockchain direct access to the service.
MoneyGram chairman and CEO Anthony Soohoo said expanding the number of platforms connected to the company’s network was central to its longer-term payments strategy.
“The future of payments is built on access,” Soohoo said. “Every platform we connect expands the reach of our network.”
A Broader Payments Strategy
MoneyGram is best known for international money transfers, but the company has increasingly been expanding into digital asset infrastructure.
The Solana launch reflects a wider shift among payments companies towards technology that can connect traditional financial systems with blockchain networks.
Rather than requiring customers to remain entirely within a digital ecosystem, services such as MoneyGram Ramps create a bridge between blockchain-based assets and physical cash.
That can be particularly relevant in markets where consumers receive digital payments but still depend heavily on cash for everyday spending.
The Solana Foundation said the integration could support applications including international remittances, cross-border payments and payments to distributed or gig-economy workers.
For developers, MoneyGram says the service removes some of the complexity associated with establishing individual banking relationships in different markets.
The company provides API credentials, sandbox access, software development kits and documentation through a single integration.
Solana Gains Another Major Payments Partner
The integration also brings another established financial services company into the Solana ecosystem.
Solana has increasingly positioned itself as infrastructure for payments and financial applications, with developers using the network for stablecoins, digital assets and cross-border transactions.
Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation, said connecting MoneyGram’s network with Solana would make it easier for developers to create financial applications with access to real-world payment infrastructure.
Rift, an AI-powered trading platform offering access to cryptocurrency and other financial markets, is the first wallet to make MoneyGram Ramps available to Solana users.
Further integrations are expected as MoneyGram makes the infrastructure available to additional developers and applications.
MoneyGram says it serves more than 60 million customers through nearly half a million retail locations, alongside its expanding digital network.
For the company, bringing that physical footprint into blockchain-based applications could provide a way to differentiate itself as competition intensifies across digital payments.
The Solana launch also illustrates how established financial companies are increasingly treating blockchain infrastructure as an extension of existing payment networks rather than as a separate financial system.
For MoneyGram, the strategy is becoming increasingly clear: connect its large physical cash network with whichever digital platforms customers choose to use.
