MoneyGram has launched MGUSD, a US dollar-denominated stablecoin built on the Stellar blockchain, in partnership with Bridge, M0, and Fireblocks.
The stablecoin, issued natively on the Stellar blockchain, marks a shift in the company's strategy from using blockchain infrastructure to facilitate transfers to building its own monetary layer directly into the network.
MGUSD launched initially in the US market on 2 June 2026, with global expansion planned at a later stage. The token will be embedded into the MoneyGram app through a self-custodial wallet, giving customers access to a stable, dollar-denominated balance that can be held, moved internationally, and converted into local currency.
Infrastructure and partnerships
According to the official press release, the launch relies on a set of partnerships across issuance, smart contract infrastructure, and custody. Bridge, a Stripe company, acts as the regulated issuer and is positioned as compliant with the GENIUS Act, the US federal stablecoin legislation. In addition, M0 provides the smart contract infrastructure through which MGUSD tokens are minted and burned, while Fireblocks supplies the institutional wallet infrastructure used to hold and distribute tokens to individual customer wallets.
The arrangement reflects a model in which MoneyGram controls the distribution layer while outsourcing regulated issuance and technical infrastructure to third-party providers. This structure is notable given the evolving US regulatory environment around stablecoin issuance, where the GENIUS Act has introduced clearer requirements for who may issue payment stablecoins and under what conditions.
Building on an existing blockchain partnership
MoneyGram's use of the Stellar network is not new. The company has maintained a partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation for five years, during which the two organisations have worked together on stablecoin-powered money transfers. MGUSD is described as an extension of that relationship, moving from facilitating transfers over the Stellar network to issuing a proprietary stablecoin on it.
The stated rationale for MGUSD centres on users in markets where local currency instability, inflation, or limited access to formal financial services make a USD-denominated digital balance operationally useful. The product is aimed at cross-border money transfer customers and populations with limited access to banking infrastructure, rather than at cryptocurrency-oriented users.
For those users, MGUSD would allow continuous access to dollar-denominated value without requiring a bank account, with conversion into local currency available on demand. The viability of that proposition at scale will depend on the pace of the product's international rollout and the regulatory approvals required in each market.
