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MoneyGram just made stablecoins spendable at roughly 100 million merchant locations worldwide. The global payments company launched its first stablecoin-backed Visa card on September 10, built in partnership with stablecoin infrastructure provider Rain and initially available in Colombia through the MoneyGram app.
The digital card lets users hold USDC balances and spend them anywhere Visa is accepted, converting stablecoin to fiat at the point of sale. Users can also walk into any of MoneyGram’s 6,000-plus locations across Colombia to convert their stablecoin holdings into local currency.
Why Colombia, and why now
Colombia wasn’t a random pin on the map. MoneyGram already operates a dense distribution network there, with over 6,000 physical locations handling high volumes of cross-border money transfers.
MoneyGram has been building toward this moment in Colombia specifically. The company launched a USDC-backed mobile app in the country back in September 2025, essentially testing whether consumers would adopt stablecoin wallets for storing value. The new Visa card is the logical next step: turning those stored balances into something you can actually use at a coffee shop or grocery store.
At launch, the card supports USDC. But MoneyGram plans to integrate its own stablecoin, MGUSD, which it introduced in June 2026.
The Visa-Rain connection
Rain, the stablecoin payment infrastructure company powering MoneyGram’s card, also underpins Western Union’s Stablecard, meaning it now serves as the backend for two of the world’s largest remittance operators.
As of fiscal Q2 2026, Visa reportedly had 160 active stablecoin card programs running globally.
The architecture is relatively straightforward. A user loads USDC into their MoneyGram app wallet. When they tap or swipe the digital card, the stablecoin is converted to the merchant’s local fiat currency in real time, settled through Visa’s existing rails. The merchant receives pesos (or whatever the local currency is), and the user’s USDC balance decreases.
MoneyGram’s long stablecoin runway
MoneyGram’s stablecoin journey traces back to its 2021 partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation, which enabled USDC on- and off-ramps through MoneyGram’s agent network. The September 2025 USDC-backed app in Colombia let users store and transfer dollar-pegged value without needing a traditional bank account. The Visa card transforms that stored value from a passive holding into an active spending instrument.
The launch of MGUSD in June 2026 added another layer. By issuing its own stablecoin, MoneyGram positioned itself not just as a distribution channel for someone else’s token but as a stablecoin issuer in its own right. Once MGUSD is integrated into the Visa card, MoneyGram will effectively control both ends of the transaction: the token and the spending mechanism.
What this means for the stablecoin market
Western Union has its Stablecard (also powered by Rain). MoneyGram now has its own stablecoin Visa card. Two companies that spent decades competing on wire transfer fees are now competing on who can offer the better stablecoin spending experience.
For USDC issuer Circle, deals like this represent exactly the kind of distribution it needs. Every MoneyGram cardholder who loads USDC is a new source of demand for the token, which translates directly into reserves that Circle holds in Treasury bills and cash equivalents.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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