From cash to stablecoins: How MoneyGram is reshaping its business

​MoneyGram has spent decades helping people send money around the world. Now the company has its own stablecoin and a new Visa card linked to digital dollars. Why is a company built around traditional money transfers now expanding so deeply into crypto?

A stablecoin can now become a Visa payment

On September 10, MoneyGram launched the MoneyGram Card, a stablecoin-backed Visa card developed with payments company Rain. The virtual card is initially available in Colombia and lets customers spend USDC anywhere Visa is accepted, including through Apple Pay and Google Pay. A physical version and expansion into other markets are planned.

The card connects to the stablecoin balance in the MoneyGram app, allowing customers to hold digital dollars and spend them through Visa. They can also move money from their balance and collect local currency through MoneyGram's cash network, connecting digital dollars with the physical locations customers already know.

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“We're giving customers more freedom and control to manage their money, all in one place,” CEO Anthony Soohoo said, adding that the card combines a stable-dollar balance, everyday spending and access to cash.

The crypto experiment started years ago

The new card is the latest step in a crypto strategy that began years earlier. In 2021, MoneyGram partnered with the Stellar Development Foundation to connect its global cash network with USDC, eventually allowing customers to move between digital dollars and physical cash at participating locations.

The idea was practical rather than speculative. MoneyGram was not trying to turn remittance customers into crypto traders. Instead, the partnership used stablecoins as another way to move money across borders while connecting digital assets with MoneyGram's existing cash network.

That relationship has continued to expand as MoneyGram built more services around stablecoins. The company now allows customers in supported markets to receive funds into a dollar-denominated stablecoin balance, keep them there and decide when they want to cash out.

Then came its own digital dollar

MoneyGram took a bigger step in June 2026 with the launch of MGUSD, its own dollar-backed stablecoin on Stellar. The token is issued by Stripe-owned Bridge and was designed to operate across MoneyGram's payments network.

Having its own stablecoin gives the company another way to build financial services around digital dollars rather than simply providing the bridge between crypto and cash. The new Visa card initially uses USDC, but MoneyGram plans to add MGUSD, potentially connecting its own digital currency directly with everyday spending.

Why stablecoins fit the remittance business

Traditional remittances can involve moving money between countries, currencies, banks and payment networks, often with several intermediaries involved. Stablecoins offer another way to move dollar-denominated value across borders around the clock, without relying on the same chain of traditional financial intermediaries.

For MoneyGram, the opportunity may extend beyond making transfers more efficient. Traditionally, a customer sends money or collects cash and the transaction ends. If that customer can receive digital dollars, keep them in a MoneyGram balance, spend them with a Visa card and withdraw cash when needed, the company remains involved after the original transfer is complete.

Its physical footprint could be particularly valuable in that model. MoneyGram operates in more than 200 countries and territories and has hundreds of thousands of retail locations worldwide. Crypto companies can move stablecoins online, but turning digital dollars into usable local cash remains important in many of the markets remittance companies serve.

An old rivalry moves into stablecoins

MoneyGram is not alone. Its longtime rival Western Union launched its own dollar-backed stablecoin, USDPT, on Solana in May. In August, it followed with Stablecard, combining a digital wallet with a Visa card backed by USDPT.

The two rivals are now building similar products. Both are combining stablecoins with Visa-linked cards and existing remittance networks, and both have turned to Rain for card infrastructure. Western Union launched Stablecard across 37 markets and plans to reach more than 60 by the end of 2026, while MoneyGram is starting its card rollout in Colombia before expanding further.

The competition extends beyond traditional remittance companies. PayPal has built a growing payments ecosystem around PYUSD, while Visa and Mastercard are expanding their stablecoin capabilities. Stripe is also becoming part of the infrastructure through Bridge, the company issuing MoneyGram's MGUSD.

Crypto was supposed to replace the middlemen

There is some irony in MoneyGram and Western Union embracing blockchain. Crypto was partly built around the idea that money could move directly between people without traditional financial intermediaries, seemingly challenging companies whose business depended on moving money across borders.

Instead, those companies are absorbing the technology into networks they already have. Their advantage is that customers do not necessarily need to understand blockchains or settlement infrastructure. They can see digital dollars in an app, spend them with a familiar card or turn them into cash at a physical location.

That does not remove every problem. Converting between stablecoins and local currencies can still carry costs, while regulation and access differ between markets. But for many customers, blockchain could increasingly sit behind familiar financial products rather than require an entirely separate crypto experience.

Where could the transformation lead?

MoneyGram is unlikely to abandon traditional transfers or cash anytime soon. Its physical network remains one of its biggest advantages, particularly in markets where customers still depend heavily on cash. Stablecoins could add a digital layer to that network rather than replace it.

The bigger change may be MoneyGram's relationship with its customers. It spent decades helping people send and receive money, but it is increasingly giving them somewhere to hold and spend it, while moving easily between digital dollars and cash. If that strategy continues, MoneyGram could gradually become something broader than the remittance company it was built to be.