Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Teraswitch confirmed a 12-site routing failure; Marinade said 94% of the 118.89 million SOL on its autonomous system went dark.

Solana came within roughly 4.5 percentage points of losing transaction finality early Wednesday, when 28.83% of staked SOL went delinquent, according to staking protocol Marinade Finance.

Marinade said the episode affected 90 validators and cost them a combined 333 SOL in rewards. The reported delinquency remained below the 33.34% threshold Marinade said would stop finality. Solana’s public status page listed no incident for Aug. 12.

On Solana, a block becomes confirmed after at least 66% of stake votes on it; finalization also requires at least 31 subsequent confirmed blocks, according to infrastructure provider Helius. The function most directly threatened by losing more than one-third of stake is therefore confirmation and finality: an online leader can still produce a “processed” block before it receives the stake-weighted votes required for confirmation.

Marinade said that if delinquency had exceeded one-third, “nothing finalizes.”

Teraswitch’s Network and the Delinquent StakePeeringDB identifies Teraswitch as the operator of AS20326. Marinade said AS20326 carried 118.89 million SOL — more than one-quarter of all staked SOL — and that 94% of it went dark at once.

The correlated delinquency was not confined to stake on AS20326. Another 14.1 million SOL on Latitude.sh, Limestone, Butterfly Research and Allnodes went down in the same minutes. Marinade said it could not determine from its data whether that reflected a shared dependency or coincidence.

Marinade described the AS20326 disruption as a Teraswitch routing fault. In its official incident report, Teraswitch confirmed that customers at LON1, AMS1-3, DUB1-2, FRA2, SGP1-2 and TYO1-3 lost reachability to internet destinations. The provider said its other North American sites were not affected.

Teraswitch said a default route associated with its Miami site was propagated with its metric and routing communities stripped. A route reflector at AMS2 sent the altered route into the provider’s European and Asia-Pacific markets, where edge routers preferred it over valid local routes. Downstream core routers rejected the malformed route, leaving the affected sites without an acceptable default path.

Engineers identified the malformed route within 10 minutes and removed Miami from the private backbone, Teraswitch said. Service was restored at 4:16:15 a.m. UTC. The provider had not identified whether the underlying defect was in its Miami edge routers or the AMS2 route reflector and said a full report would follow.

Marinade said 59 validators holding 80.2 million SOL returned in the same narrow window and that nobody failed over before routing reconverged. The staking protocol said it will review its concentration limits by autonomous system and data center and publish whether validators use hot-swap systems and automatic failover.

Solana’s February 2024 outage halted block finalization for about five hours after a software bug stalled more than 95% of cluster stake, according to the official incident report. This time, Solana’s status page listed no incident, while Teraswitch’s promised root-cause report and Marinade’s concentration review remain the next tests of the shared infrastructure risk.

MoneyGram is bringing its global cash network directly into the Solana ecosystem, launching MoneyGram Ramps on the blockchain and giving wallets, exchanges and other applications a new way to connect digital assets with physical cash.

The rollout puts MoneyGram's established payments infrastructure behind a single integration designed for Solana applications. According to MoneyGram, developers can use its rails to enable cash deposits in more than 25 countries and cash withdrawals across more than 170 countries and territories, while MoneyGram handles identity verification, compliance, settlement and fiat payouts.

MoneyGram acts a bridge between blockchain-based assets and the traditional cash economy.

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The first Solana wallet to integrate the service is Rift, according to MoneyGram's announcement.

The move is significant because of MoneyGram's unusual history in blockchain payments. The company was once one of Ripple's most prominent commercial partners, later became a major participant in Stellar's stablecoin ecosystem, and is now expanding its infrastructure onto Solana.

From Ripple to Stellar MoneyGram's blockchain story began well before its arrival on Solana.

In January 2018, MoneyGram and Ripple announced an agreement to pilot XRP in MoneyGram's payment flows. The companies said they would explore using Ripple's xRapid system for on-demand liquidity, with XRP serving as the bridge asset between currencies.

The relationship became substantially deeper in 2019. Ripple and MoneyGram announced a strategic partnership under which Ripple would become MoneyGram's key partner for cross-border payment and foreign-exchange settlement using digital assets. Ripple also agreed to provide a capital commitment of up to $50 million in exchange for equity over the two-year term. MoneyGram separately described the arrangement as involving its use of Ripple's xRapid product and XRP for foreign-exchange settlement. 

The partnership ultimately ended in March 2021. Ripple said the two companies had mutually decided to terminate their agreement, while noting that they had processed billions of dollars through RippleNet and its On-Demand Liquidity product. 

MoneyGram did not abandon blockchain payments after leaving Ripple. Instead, its next major blockchain relationship was with the Stellar Development Foundation. Recently, it became a validator on the Stellar network. 

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TLDR: A routing fault pushed Solana to 28.83% delinquent stake, near the 33.34% finality halt line. A single autonomous system, AS20326, hosts 27.34% of stake, breaching the SFDP’s 25% cap. Ninety validators lost 333 SOL in rewards; bonds will cover losses at next epoch’s end. Helius stayed offline the full 33 minutes; only three validators recovered without disruption. Solana came close to a finality halt on August 12, 2026, after 28.83% of staked SOL went offline. Marinade Finance reported the outage stemmed from a routing failure at infrastructure provider Teraswitch.

The network’s finality threshold sits at 33.34% delinquent stake. Around 90 validators were affected before traffic recovered within roughly 33 minutes, with lost rewards totaling 333 SOL across the affected group.

What Caused the Outage Teraswitch traced the fault to a default route advertised from its Miami site. The route lost its normal routing attributes during propagation. A route reflector based in Amsterdam then distributed this faulty route to sites across Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Edge routers at twelve affected sites treated the faulty route as a valid local default. They prioritized it over legitimate paths already in place. The core network layer rejected the route as invalid once it reached deeper infrastructure.

This left twelve sites without any valid forwarding path. Locations included London, Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt, Singapore, and Tokyo. North American infrastructure was not affected by the fault.

Teraswitch engineers located the issue within ten minutes of onset. Normal traffic flow resumed by 04:16:15 UTC. The Miami site remains disconnected from the company’s backbone while the root cause is investigated further.

1/ Solana got 86% of the way to a halt this morning and it barely registered anywhere.
28.83% of staked SOL went delinquent. Finality stops at 33.34%.
We added up the rewards lost across all 90 affected validators. 333 SOL. pic.twitter.com/EEC2gYwQgz

— Marinade 🛡️ (@MarinadeFinance) August 12, 2026

Validator Impact and Recovery Patterns AS20326, the autonomous system hosting the affected infrastructure, carries 118.9 million SOL in stake. That figure represents 27.34% of all staked SOL on the network. Roughly 94% of that stake went offline at the same time.

Marinade noted that 14.1 million SOL tied to other providers also went down. These included Latitude.sh, Limestone, Butterfly Research, and Allnodes. The cause of this secondary impact remains unclear from available data.

Recovery data showed 59 validators holding 80.2 million SOL returned within the same short window. This pattern repeated across Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Tokyo data centers. None of these validators appeared to trigger any failover mechanism during the outage.

Helius, the network’s second-largest validator, stayed offline for the full 33-minute duration. Among 74 validators Marinade could measure, only three recovered cleanly. Those were Laine, Cogent Crypto, and Lion3d.

Concentration Risk and Policy Response Marinade pointed to a specific rule under the Solana Foundation Delegation Program. That policy caps any single autonomous system at 25% of the total network stake. AS20326’s current share of 27.34% already exceeds that limit.

Marinade also disclosed concentration figures within its own stake pool. Four autonomous systems hold two-thirds of the stake allocated through its SAM mechanism. One system, AS395201, accounts for 36.94% of that allocation alone.

In response, Marinade said it will review concentration limits by autonomous system and by physical data center. The firm also plans to publish which validators run hot-swap and automatic failover setups, information not currently visible externally.

The 333 SOL in lost rewards will be covered through validator bonds at the next epoch. Marinade warned that a delinquency rate past one-third would have stopped all network finality. It cited the February 2024 halt, which took about five hours to restore.

Solana Network Nearly Stopped Working Today. Should SOL Investors Worry?

MoneyGram expanded its blockchain payments strategy on Aug. 11 by launching MoneyGram Ramps on Solana, giving wallets, exchanges and developers access to its cash network through one API. 

Summary

MoneyGram Ramps now gives Solana applications cash withdrawals across more than 170 countries and territories. Cash deposits are available in over 25 countries through one developer API without banking integrations. Rift became the first Solana wallet to integrate MoneyGram Ramps for crypto and local currency. MoneyGram already operates a Solana validator after joining the network and developer platform in June. U.S. Ramps access excludes Alaska, Louisiana, Hawaii and New York, according to MoneyGram’s product page. The company’s release says the integration supports cash deposits in more than 25 countries and cash withdrawals in more than 170 countries and territories.

Rift is the first Solana wallet to integrate the service. The launch builds on MoneyGram’s June entry into Solana as a validator and participant in the Solana Developer Platform, extending the relationship from network infrastructure into customer facing payment access.

MoneyGram Ramps gives Solana cash access in 170+ markets MoneyGram says developers can obtain API credentials, use a sandbox and integrate software development kits without building separate banking connections. Solana has embedded Ramps in the payments module of its Developer Platform, allowing apps to connect onchain activity with MoneyGram’s physical cash network.

MoneyGram says its wider network serves more than 60 million active customers and includes nearly half a million retail locations. Solana’s announcement lists international payouts, stablecoin payroll and aid distribution as possible applications. Those are proposed use cases, not announced customer deployments.

MoneyGram’s corporate site says its broader network spans more than 200 countries and territories, with more than 480,000 retail locations and over five billion digital endpoints. Ramps does not mirror that full footprint: the product currently advertises crypto to cash access in more than 170 countries, while cash deposits are available in more than 25.

MoneyGram Ramps is live on Solana, source: Solana/X The current MoneyGram Ramps page describes customer flows using USDC. Users can add cash to a crypto wallet at participating locations or convert USDC into cash. The Solana announcement does not say MoneyGram’s MGUSD stablecoin is moving networks. MGUSD launched on Stellar in June, initially in the U.S., as crypto.news reported in its June stablecoin coverage.

U.S. access comes with state limits The launch also carries a direct U.S. payments angle. MoneyGram Payment Systems is registered as a money services business with FinCEN and says it is authorized to do business in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories. However, its current Ramps page says the product is unavailable in Alaska, Louisiana, Hawaii and New York.

Solana developers can therefore connect to a U.S. regulated payments operator, but customer availability still depends on location and product rules. MoneyGram says it handles identity checks, compliance and real time stablecoin settlement within Ramps. Its existing licensing does not make every Ramps function available everywhere.

The product page says MoneyGram handles stablecoin settlement, fiat payout and compliance checks behind the integration. That setup lets a wallet or exchange add cash access without separately assembling MoneyGram’s underlying payment and compliance connections.

The integration follows MoneyGram’s June 22 move to become an active Solana validator and join the Solana Developer Platform, as crypto.news reported in its earlier validator coverage. MoneyGram said it stakes SOL, processes transaction blocks and participates directly in network consensus.

What happens next for MoneyGram’s Solana push MoneyGram is positioning Ramps as a multichain product rather than replacing its Stellar work. Its latest official materials still identify MGUSD as natively issued on Stellar, while Solana now gains access to the company’s cash connectivity. The approach also puts MoneyGram alongside established payment firms expanding blockchain rails, including Western Union’s Solana expansion covered in related reporting.

MoneyGram CEO Anthony Soohoo described the launch as “another step toward building a truly open, global payments network.” The statement sets out the company’s objective, but the immediate measure will be adoption. MoneyGram has not announced another Solana wallet integration beyond Rift or provided a timetable for additional partners.

MoneyGram’s current Ramps page also marks bank, mobile wallet and card withdrawals, along with debit card and bank account funding, as “coming soon.” Those functions would extend Ramps beyond physical cash locations if released. No firm launch date is listed, so the Solana rollout currently centers on the cash access announced this week.

Solana (SOL) extends its rebound, trading above $76.41 at the time of writing on Wednesday after finding support around the key zone the previous day. The announcement of MoneyGram Ramps integration on the network on Tuesday boosts bullish sentiment. In addition, increasing demand from institutional investors through SOL spot Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) so far this week further supports the positive outlook.

MoneyGram integration boosts Solana’s utilitySolana announced on Tuesday that MoneyGram Ramps is live on Solana, giving builders direct access to MoneyGram’s global fiat on- and off-ramp infrastructure through a single API. 

The integration brings cash deposits in over 25 countries and withdrawals in over 170 countries and territories to Solana apps, wallets, and exchanges.

“60M+ customers, nearly 500,000 retail locations, 170+ countries. One of the world’s largest payments networks is now a single API away for every builder on Solana,” said Solana on its X post.

This integration is a bullish development for SOL in the long term as it strengthens Solana’s real-world payment utility by making fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat transactions more accessible through its ecosystem. In addition, the development may also support broader adoption of Solana-based apps, wallets and exchanges by connecting them to MoneyGram’s extensive global payment network.

Institutional demand remains robustInstitutional demand for Solana has remained strong so far this week. SoSoValue data showed that SOL ETFs recorded an inflow of $1.43 million on Tuesday following a positive flow of $8.83 million the previous day. If these inflows continue and intensify throughout the week, SOL could extend gains.

Total SOL spot ETF net inflow daily chart. Source: SoSoValueImproving derivatives metricsDerivatives data also shows bullish sentiment among Solana traders. CoinGlass’ long-to-short ratio for SOL reads 1.03 on Wednesday, heading toward the highest level over a month. A ratio above one indicates bullish sentiment, as traders are betting the asset price will rise.

SOL/USDT daily chart. Source: CoinglassIn addition, CoinGlass’ funding rates metric for Solana flipped positive on Tuesday, reading 0.0017% on Wednesday. These positive rates indicate that long traders are paying shorts and reflect a bullish bias.

SOL funding rates chart. Source: CoinglassSolana technical outlook: Key 50-day EMA holds as supportSolana price trades at $76.41 on Wednesday, maintaining a capped undertone as it holds beneath the 100-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $78.40 and the longer-term 200-day EMA at $89.98. SOL price remains only marginally above the 50-day EMA support at $75.53 and the reclaimed rising trendline break area near $72.70.

Momentum has turned constructive, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovering around 55 and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) advancing further into positive territory, which hints at improving upside attempts that are still constrained by overhead structure.

On the topside, initial resistance is seen at the nearby horizontal barrier around $77.07, followed by the 100-day EMA at $78.40; above that, the 200-day EMA at $89.98 precedes a higher horizontal cap near $96.19. 

On the downside, immediate support is provided by the 50-day EMA at $75.53, with the former trendline break zone around $72.70 offering a deeper structural floor should selling pressure resume.

SOL/USDT daily chart(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)

The payments sector naturally takes center stage whenever DeFi is mentioned.

Over the years, payments have become one of the biggest use cases for blockchain, helping bridge the gap between TradFi and enabling on-chain transactions across the Layer 1 ecosystem. In this context, Solana looks like it is making a push into this growing sector, putting its expanding DeFi ecosystem under the spotlight as it heads deeper into Q3.

In a post on X, Solana mentioned its partnership with MoneyGram, one of the world’s largest payments networks, with 60 million customers, 500k retail locations, and a presence across 170+ countries. Looking at the on-chain data, the impact could be meaningful for Solana, especially given its recent network activity.

Source: Blockworks As the chart above shows, Solana recorded a new all-time high of over 171 million daily non-vote transactions. Real-user TPS has also surged to a new peak of 2,000 transactions per second, showing that network activity continues to pick up. 

Against this backdrop, MoneyGram’s launch on Solana doesn’t look like a random move. Instead, it looks like a  “strategic” partnership, allowing the network to leverage Solana’s fundamentals, while potentially driving even more on-chain activity for the L1. With network activity already hitting new ATHs, the odds of Solana setting another transaction milestone by the end of Q3 therefore look increasingly likely.

In this context, the DeFi sector naturally becomes a key area to watch for Solana [SOL] throughout the rest of the quarter. Notably, liquidity on the network has already started to shift, suggesting that top-tier issuers are positioning themselves to capitalize on this growing momentum.

Solana’s liquidity shift puts DeFi and payments in focus for Q3 Increasing liquidity across Solana is already translating into key on-chain milestones. 

According to SolanaFloor, tokenized supply on the network has hit a new all-time high, with Tesla (TSLA) and Circle (CRCL) remaining the largest tokenized equities by supply. This shows that tokenized assets are adding another layer to Solana’s on-chain activity, alongside rising daily transactions and growing crypto payment card usage. 

Notably, crypto payment cards processed $759 million in July, up 2.5x year-on-year, with nearly 9 million purchases made using stablecoins. This clearly shows the growing link between blockchain and the payments sector, making Solana’s partnership with MoneyGram even more relevant. Looking at the chart below, it looks like major market participants are already positioning to capitalize on this momentum.

Source: DeFiLlama According to DeFiLlama, Tether’s USDT supply on Solana is up nearly 19% over the past 30 days, compared with a -4.6% decline in Circle’s USDC supply. This comes despite Circle minting another $500 million in USDC on the network, highlighting the growing traction of USDT within Solana’s liquidity landscape.

From a structural lens, this shift doesn’t look like a fluke. With Solana hitting a new transaction milestone, tokenized equities reaching a new all-time high, and MoneyGram further expanding its payment footprint, it looks like Tether is already positioning itself to capitalize on Solana’s growing on-chain momentum.

That, in turn, puts Solana’s DeFi sector in focus as a key catalyst for its Q3 cycle. With liquidity shifting and payment activity picking up, the big question now is whether this momentum can translate into technical upside for SOL this quarter, making it a key trend to watch.

Final Summary Solana’s payment sector is growing fast, with MoneyGram, rising transactions, and more tokenized assets boosting network activity. Liquidity is also moving higher, making DeFi and payments key catalysts for SOL in Q3.

TLDR SOL is trading at $75.51, holding above the critical $73.50–$74 support zone. Analyst Michael van de Poppe says a $120 target stays valid if buyers defend this support. Solana ETF inflows hit $8.8 million on August 10, the highest since May 12. Smart money wallets grew SOL holdings by 42% over the past week, per Nansen. The $72–$74 zone lines up with the 50% Fibonacci retracement, a key pullback level. Solana (SOL) is trading at $75.51, down 1.48% over the past 24 hours. The token has a market capitalization of $43.92 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $1.42 billion.

Despite the small pullback, SOL has held above a key support zone between $73.50 and $74. Traders are watching this range for signs of the next move.

The token broke out of a month-long downtrend after climbing above $75 last weekend. The rally stalled near $78 before giving back some of the gains.

Crypto analyst Michael van de Poppe said on X that SOL is building a series of higher lows, a pattern often tied to a bullish market structure. He pointed to the $73.50 to $74 zone as the level buyers need to defend.

Quite clearly you'd want to see $SOL continue to be printing higher lows.

In that regard, I think it's important to hold the $73.5-74 area for support.

If that happens, the targets to $120 remain intact. pic.twitter.com/yKALiRlAHF

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) August 11, 2026

According to van de Poppe, holding this range keeps the path toward $120 open. A breakdown below the zone would put pressure on the current setup and could hurt the bullish outlook.

The $72 to $74 area also lines up with the 50% Fibonacci retracement level, sometimes called the golden zone. This level has acted as a turning point during past pullbacks.

If buyers defend this zone with strong spot demand, analysts say SOL could aim for $83 next. That price also matches the 200-day moving average, a level traders watch for trend direction.

ETF Inflows Signal Rising Institutional Interest Data shared by Santiment Intelligence on X showed Solana ETFs took in $8.8 million in net inflows on August 10. This marks the highest daily inflow figure since May 12.

📈 Solana just saw $8.8M in daily net ETF inflows. That’s the strongest amount of money moving into ETF’s since May 12th, after several quiet sessions with little movement the past 3 months.

🏦 Solana’s RWA value, stablecoin supply, tokenized equity volume, and perps activity… pic.twitter.com/ZwN9pbJAeb

— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) August 11, 2026

The inflow figure stood out because Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs recorded net outflows the same day. Solana ETF demand has stayed positive through the third quarter, though at a lower pace than in Q2.

Separate data from Nansen showed smart money wallets increased their SOL holdings by 42% over the past week. Top addresses also raised their bids by 15% over the same period.

The rise in wallet activity points to growing interest from larger, more experienced traders. This lined up with the increase in ETF inflows during the same week.

Beyond price and flows, the Solana network has continued to expand. Stablecoin supply, tokenized equity transactions, and perpetual futures activity have all grown on the network.

Solana Price on CoinGecko Network Upgrades Continue Alongside Price Moves The Alpenglow upgrade is targeting 150 millisecond finality for transactions. Agave 4.2, another planned upgrade, is nearing mainnet deployment.

The xStocks platform has also made tokenized equity trading more accessible on Solana. These developments are running alongside the price action rather than driving it directly.

Bitcoin’s price has moved lower in recent sessions, which has weighed on the broader altcoin market. SOL price action has stayed mostly range-bound as a result.

Traders are also watching upcoming U.S. inflation data and Fed rate decisions this quarter. Both events could affect whether institutional demand for SOL ETFs continues at its current pace.

As of this writing, Solana is trading at $75.51 with support holding near $74. The $8.8 million ETF inflow on August 10 remains the most recent data point tracked by analysts.

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Roughly 28.83% of staked SOL dropped offline on Solana following a routing failure, bringing the network uncomfortably close to the 33.34% mark where transaction finality grinds to a halt. That’s a margin of about 4.5 percentage points between normal operations and a network that can no longer confirm transactions are permanent.

How close was too close Solana’s consensus mechanism, Tower Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), requires roughly two-thirds of all staked SOL, about 66.67%, to actively participate in order to finalize transactions. Flip that around, and it means if more than 33.34% of stake goes dark, the network loses the supermajority it needs. Blocks might still be produced, but nothing gets stamped as irreversible.

At 28.83% offline, Solana was roughly 4.5 percentage points from that cliff. In practical terms, just a few additional large validators going delinquent could have tipped the balance.

Validators that go offline on Solana don’t face slashing penalties, the punitive mechanism some other proof-of-stake chains use to discourage downtime. Instead, they simply stop earning rewards.

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Solana’s uptime streak and its limits Before this incident, Solana had been on an impressive run. The network’s last recorded full outage dates back to February 2024, and the official status page had shown all systems operational for over 30 months straight.

A network can keep producing blocks while still being unable to finalize them if enough stake goes delinquent. The 30-month streak refers to full network halts, where block production itself stops. The routing failure exposed a scenario where the chain could remain technically “up” while losing its ability to confirm that transactions are permanent.

Reports from 2026 have shown up to 32 validator delinquencies within a 30-day window on Solana. Most of these stem from mundane causes: hardware failures, misconfigured software, or connectivity problems. What made this incident different was the scale. Having nearly 29% of stake affected simultaneously points to a systemic issue rather than scattered individual failures.

The Alpenglow factor Solana has been working on a major protocol upgrade called Alpenglow, which aims to compress transaction finality down to approximately 100-150 milliseconds.

One notable design philosophy behind Alpenglow is that it prioritizes safety over liveness. The upgrade is built so the network would rather pause block production entirely than risk confirming transactions that might later prove inconsistent.

Alpenglow also introduces a fault-tolerance model that distinguishes between validators that are actively malicious and those that are simply offline due to passive failures like the routing issue that caused this incident.

What this means for Solana’s competitive position The lack of slashing penalties is likely to draw renewed debate. Proponents argue it keeps the validator set accessible and avoids punishing operators for honest mistakes. Critics counter that without meaningful financial consequences for downtime, there’s insufficient incentive for validators to invest in the kind of redundancy that prevents large-scale simultaneous failures.

For SOL holders who stake their tokens, validators that were offline missed out on staking rewards during the downtime, which flows through to their delegators as reduced returns.

Solana’s consensus model is designed to tolerate up to a third of stake going offline, and this incident tested that boundary more aggressively than anything since the February 2024 outage.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

15h14 ▪ 8 min read ▪ by Ariela R.

Summarize this article with:

August 11, 2026, will certainly be one of those many dates to mark with a white stone in the history of cryptocurrency. And rightly so, it has just gained a life-sized gateway to cash. A revolution owed to MoneyGram, which officially opens its Ramps service on Solana. More than a simple announcement, the project has a clear goal: to expand the use of digital assets beyond bank cards and crypto exchanges.

In brief MoneyGram officially launches its Ramps service on Solana. The Rift wallet becomes the first Solana player to integrate this cash-to-crypto solution. The service covers cash deposits in more than 25 countries and withdrawals in more than 170 countries. Solana becomes the second crypto blockchain connected to Ramps, after Stellar. Solana becomes MoneyGram’s physical payment network MoneyGram is expanding its Ramps service to Solana, the second blockchain to integrate this infrastructure after Stellar. Specifically, this cash-to-crypto connects MoneyGram’s physical network to applications, wallets, and exchanges running on Solana. Users can deposit cash and receive digital assets. Conversely, they will have the option to convert their stablecoins into local currency. Withdrawals can then be made at an agency.

This crypto alliance is especially significant given MoneyGram has more than 60 million active customers. Added to this are:

almost 500,000 physical points of sale; a digital presence covering more than 200 countries and territories. That’s not all! The Ramps service also allows cash deposits in more than 25 countries and withdrawals in more than 170 countries and territories. For the Solana crypto ecosystem, this figure represents a geographic coverage that few fintech players can claim today.

These data nevertheless reveal a fundamental asymmetry of the service: a user will have the option to withdraw cash by exchanging their stablecoins via MoneyGram. However, they might not necessarily be able to deposit liquid cash at a MoneyGram office to buy SOL.

This simply means that the on-ramp remains confined to selected markets, while the off-ramp covers most of the globe. For Solana developers, this is a technical detail that matters. Certainly, they no longer need to negotiate banking relationships country by country thanks to the single API. Nevertheless, the promise of financial inclusion remains variable in scope.

Analysis: Solana primarily gains a massive off-ramp, not a universal gateway to crypto. Its success will now depend on the number of integrations, the total cost, and the quality of the user journey.

A crypto infrastructure particularly advantageous for developers The integration of MoneyGram Ramps into the Solana Developer Platform is a strong signal. The fact is that developers now have access to:

SDKs; a sandbox; comprehensive documentation. All instantly! No more negotiating with banks or navigating complex regulations. Everything is ready to use.

According to the official statement published by Solana on August 11, 2026, this crypto infrastructure opens the door to three major use cases:

Cross-border remittances: a worker can receive stablecoins and convert them into local cash, without a bank account. Payroll payment: companies pay in crypto and employees withdraw in fiat via MoneyGram. Humanitarian aid: funds arrive on-chain and are distributed in cash to hard-to-reach areas. In this respect, Solana Foundation President Lily Liu emphasizes an important point:

Solana is an infrastructure for more than six billion people on the Internet. By connecting our ecosystem to MoneyGram’s network, developers can build financially useful applications on a global scale.

This approach contrasts with purely speculative DeFi projects. Indeed, crypto now serves to solve real problems: financial inclusion, payment speed, cost reduction… In this context, Solana establishes itself as the crypto utility network par excellence.

From Stellar to Solana: MoneyGram strengthens its crypto market offensive MoneyGram is not new to cryptocurrencies. The money transfer giant has been working in this area for over five years. On June 22, 2026, it notably became an active validator on Solana. It was staking SOL and processing transactions directly on the crypto network. A few weeks later, it integrated the Solana Developer Platform alongside Mastercard.

The group also maintains its foothold on Stellar. In early June, it launched its own MGUSD stablecoin in collaboration with payment company Tempo.

The launch of Ramps on Solana therefore confirms a clear multi-chain strategy. Stellar remains the primary supported network. Solana becomes the second. This multi-chain approach goes far beyond mere diversification. It reveals a deep conviction, also confirmed by MoneyGram CEO Anthony Soohoo:

The future of payments relies on access.

This diversification also illustrates a deep trend in institutional finance: large payment groups no longer bet on a single blockchain. They replicate their infrastructure where user demand and available crypto liquidity exist.

What this crypto alliance changes for the Solana ecosystem The question is no longer whether MoneyGram can connect its network to Solana. That is already done! The short and medium-term goal is rather to determine:

how many wallets, crypto exchanges, and applications will follow Rift in the coming months; if this adoption will translate into significant volumes of cash-to-crypto conversions. In the long term, this integration is part of a larger battle for global payment infrastructure. Solana aims to establish itself as a reference settlement rail against competing networks. The next indicator to watch will be the addition of other Solana wallets to Ramps and the evolution of volumes traded through this new bridge between cash and crypto.

A new partnership that is not without challenges Compliance and regulation remain major challenges. MoneyGram must ensure that every transaction complies with local laws, especially in terms of anti-money laundering. Developers will need to integrate robust KYC/AML checks. MoneyGram already has solid compliance expertise. However, scaling a service across 170 territories requires considerable regulatory agility.

Added to this is competition. Native crypto players such as MoonPay, Transak, or Ramp Network already offer similar solutions. These companies are more agile and less burdened by legacy structures. However, they do not have MoneyGram’s global physical network.

Another risk not to be underestimated: dependence on Solana. Indeed, this crypto network has already suffered major outages testing its resilience. Certainly, its stability has significantly improved. Nevertheless, an institution like MoneyGram cannot afford service interruptions.

Towards payment tokenization? The future after this partnership This launch raises a broader question within the crypto community: is MoneyGram testing the full tokenization of its business model? According to analysts, signals converge:

the group is already a validator on Solana; it has integrated the Solana Developer Platform; it deploys its ramps via an open API. Each step brings its traditional infrastructure closer to the blockchain.

Some DeFi experts even see a precedent here. If MoneyGram succeeds in migrating a significant share of its volumes to Solana, other institutions will follow. Specifically, this refers to Mastercard, which is already present on the Solana Developer Platform. Central banks are also observing this live laboratory. They are already working on their CBDC.

One thing is certain: the MoneyGram/Solana partnership goes far beyond a simple marketing announcement. It is proof that a leading historic financial institution is transforming its core business into an open infrastructure. For Solana, the implications are just as significant. The crypto network gains newfound institutional legitimacy. It no longer competes only with Ethereum on DeFi or NFTs. It becomes a settlement layer for global financial flows.

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Ariela R.

My name is Ariela, and I am 31 years old. I have been working in the field of web writing for 7 years now. I only discovered trading and cryptocurrency a few years ago, but it is a universe that greatly interests me. The topics covered on the platform allow me to learn more. A singer in my spare time, I also cultivate a great passion for music and reading (and animals!)

Grayscale Says AI Adoption Creates Demand These 4 Networks Could Fill

Hundreds of delegates showed up and showed out for the sophomore edition of the Solana Summit Nigeria event, which took place from August 7 to 9, with Uyo serving as the host city for the 2026 edition. The main event took place in the lush greens of Ibom Hotel & Golf Resort, under the theme “From Earn to Internet Capital Markets.”

Following last year's maiden edition in Abuja, Nigeria, the summit focused on how Solana could support the next stage of onchain finance through tokenized assets, capital formation, treasury infrastructure, and other financial applications.

The program featured product presentations, fireside chats, and workshops involving founders, investors, developers, and members of Nigeria's crypto community.

A Different Start to the Summit Organizers opened the weekend with a Trad Ball opening mixer on Friday, August 7. The opening mixer brought attendees together through traditional Nigerian food, music, indigenous fashion, and performances.

The event positioned culture alongside the technology discussions that followed, with attendees arriving in traditional attire for the opening celebration.

3 Major Announcements The summit featured announcements that highlighted the event's focus on expanding financial access through Solana.

Risevest, Hisa, and Assetbase integrated Solana, allowing users to fund their wallets through the network and purchase real-world assets. The 3 platforms collectively serve more than 1 million Africans accessing local and global capital markets.

Roqqu announced tokenized stocks on Solana. The company reported more than 2 million users across Africa and Europe, processing $5 billion in transactions. Its presentation framed tokenized stocks as an early step toward bringing broader real-world economies onto blockchains. The proposed experience includes fractional ownership and 24/7 blockchain settlement.

GetEquity announced its Solana integration, expanding access to private-market investments for its more than 22,000 users. The platform has processed $2 billion, according to the summit announcement.

Payments and Stablecoins Take Center Stage Several presentations also focused on the infrastructure required to move money across borders.

Raenest presented its global money management platform, which serves freelancers, remote workers, creators, entrepreneurs and other users moving money internationally. Its presentation listed more than 1.4 million global users and 11,800 businesses onboarded.

Roam focused on stablecoins as a way to improve cross-border payments, highlighting slow transfers, high fees and unreliable intermediaries as persistent problems for Africans receiving international payments.

Zynta presented regulated stablecoin infrastructure designed to connect global payment providers and businesses with African markets through licensed corridors and local settlement partners. Its presentation reported more than $300 million in processed transaction volume and more than $1.8 million in generated revenue.

Trading, Builders and Local Participation NectarFi partnered with Frontier Traders to run a live trading competition during the summit. Trading began at 9:30 AM on August 8, with participants competing for a share of a $5,000 prize pool. NectarFi also announced its expansion from payments into an onchain brokerage, including perpetuals powered by Phoenix.

Speakers included Superteam Nigeria co-leads Harri Obi and Nzube Ezudo, Feranmi Ajetomobi of Timon, Nathaniel Elvis of Raenest, Chinaecherem Felix of NectarFi, and Temitope Babatunde Ekundayo of GetEquity.

Harri Obi noted that most sponsors came from locally based or regionally focused companies, suggesting that Nigerian businesses are increasingly seeing commercial value in participating in the Solana ecosystem.

Closing at the Beach Solana Summit Nigeria concluded on August 9 with a closing mixer at Ibeno Beach. 

Across 3 days, the gathering connected Nigeria's Solana ecosystem and wider crypto community with discussions around payments, stablecoins, tokenization, trading, and the broader shift from simply earning onchain toward building internet-native capital markets.

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Solana Wants To Burn 14x More $SOL

Global remittance company MoneyGram has expanded its Ramps service to Solana, allowing wallets, exchanges and developers on the network to offer cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash conversions through its payments network.

Ramps previously operated on Stellar, making Solana its second supported blockchain. Rift is the first Solana (SOL) wallet to integrate the service, allowing users to move between crypto and local currencies through MoneyGram.

In an X post announcing the launch, Solana said MoneyGram serves more than 60 million customers through nearly 500,000 retail locations across more than 170 countries, with the network now accessible to Solana developers through a single API.

Source: Solana

Ramps supports cash deposits in more than 25 countries and withdrawals in more than 170 countries and territories, according to MoneyGram. The service, also integrated into the Solana Developer Platform’s payments module, lets developers add MoneyGram’s fiat on- and off-ramp infrastructure without building their own banking integrations.

The company said the Solana launch is part of a broader effort to make Ramps available across multiple blockchain ecosystems. In June, MoneyGram became a Solana validator, staking SOL and processing transactions on the network. It also joined the Solana Developer Platform as part of that expansion.

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In brief Solana trades at a $75.06 price, down 1.22% on the day, holding just above its 50-day moving average. The daily chart paints a formation traders refer to as a death cross, a classic bearish indicator. Prediction-market traders on Myriad price a dump to $40 at 69%, against a pump to $160 at 31%. Solana has risen up the ranks of the crypto market charts over the last few years, but the bear market has taken a toll—and the broader macro environment isn’t give SOL much of a tailwind.

Bitcoin is trapped between roughly $62,000 support and $67,000 resistance after a brutal early-August selloff, holding under $65,000, while Ethereum has pulled back to the $1,825–$1,850 zone after getting rejected at higher levels.

A weak tape across the two largest assets caps how far any altcoin bounce can run, and Solana, which trades as SOL, is moving with them, down 1.22% on the day at $75.06 and a $43 billion market cap.

There are some potential catalysts on the horizon, however, beginning with the coming Alpenglow consensus upgrade. The overhaul is meant to cut finality to 100–150 milliseconds and entered community validator testing and is targeted for mainnet activation in August. Traders have been positioning for the rollout, but the date is still a target, not a locked event. Until it ships, the chart is doing the talking, and it has SOL back on its 50-day average after a pullback from the $90 spike—the first line of defense for any recovery.

Another development to take into consideration is a recent tokenomics proposal. Validators are close to advancing SGP-0003, which bundles two changes aimed at tightening Solana's supply: SIMD-0553 would introduce resource-based fees and lift daily SOL burns more than 10-fold—from about 650 SOL (roughly $48,000) to between 7,500 and 9,000 SOL (up to about $668,000)—while SIMD-0550 would double the annual disinflation rate to 30%, pulling the 1.5% inflation floor forward from 2032 to 2029.

Supporters include Helius, Jupiter, Drift, and Solana Compass. A supply-side squeeze like that is the kind of catalyst the chart can't show.

SOL price: What the charts saySolana is trading at $75.06 on the daily charts, down 1.22% on the day, after a late-August pullback from a spike near $90. Price is holding just above the average price of its last 50 days, back in the support that defines the current range.

Solana carved a steep downtrend from the mid-$90s in May to about $62 in early June, then staged a V-shaped August rally that peaked just under $85 before rolling over. The drop from that high to $75.06 is roughly a 17% retrace, and crucially it's been absorbed right at the 50-day exponential moving average, or EMA, rather than slicing through it.

Exponential moving averages smooth out day-to-day noise by weighting recent closes more heavily, so the 50- and 200-day lines show where the medium-term crowd actually paid, not last tick's panic.

If a market goes through a normal cycle change, these changes happen slowly, with both EMAs approaching over time after being almost stable for a bit. That's the first step toward stabilization the bulls need—but the rally failed to hold above the 200-day EMA near $85, so the move still looks like a lower-high rejection off a major average, not a trend reset. A daily close back under the 50-day EMA would flip this from "holding support" to "losing it."

The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, reads 50.5. RSI is a momentum gauge on a 0–100 scale: above 70 is overbought, below 30 is oversold. At 50.5, SOL is exactly on the midline—neutral, with no momentum edge either way.

Squeeze Momentum is on for three days and seems to point towards a recovery. A squeeze means volatility has contracted and a move is loading; this one carries a faintly positive bias, but +0.28 is barely off zero.

The Average Directional Index, or ADX, reads 11.9. ADX measures trend strength, not direction: below 20 means the market is directionless and choppy, so false breakouts and stop hunts are common. The directionality is also ever so slightly bullish, but with ADX this low the signal means little.

Myriad's open SOL market frames the extremes. Traders there are pricing a dump to $40 at 69% and a pump to $160 at 31%, with the market open until the coin hits a target. The 69% lean toward $40 is basically a bet that stacks the current hold at the 50-day EMA against a deeper leg down.

For more information, or to participate, click here to place your prediction on Myriad.

Myriad: SOL next move: Pump to $160 or Dump to $40?The price chart doesn't support a run to $160 from here: that would need a daily close back above the 200-day EMA near $85 first, and the death cross says the path of least resistance is still down.

Bull case: SOL holds the 50-day EMA and the 74.73–75.71 Fib green zone, then reclaims $77.50 (the resistance marked on the chart) and pushes toward the 200-day EMA near $85. A daily close back above $77.50 confirms the 50-day EMA held and reopens the August high.

Bear case: a daily close below $72 breaks the green zone and opens $70.58, then the early-July floor near $65.

All things considered, Solana is holding its 50-day EMA, but the 200-day EMA above and the death cross below still frame this as a bounce inside a downtrend, not a turn.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

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Solana (SOL) is currently trading within a parallel channel, with analysts monitoring whether the price can overcome the $78 barrier. A successful move above this level could clear the path for Solana to approach the $100 mark for the first time since early February.

Key technical signals and $100 targetMarket observers have highlighted several bullish signals for Solana. Notably, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator is producing a Golden Cross, an event often interpreted as the beginning of a stronger upward trend. Ali Martinez, a well-followed crypto market analyst, has identified $100 as a near-term target, emphasizing the potential upside if certain technical milestones are reached.

Another indicator drawing attention is the Tom DeMark (TD) Sequential, a tool that generates buy or sell signals based on a series of candlestick patterns. On Solana’s one-day price chart, the TD Sequential has indicated a buy signal, but analysts recommend observing the $78.70 level for confirmation before expecting continued growth.

The setup often precedes a swing higher, lasting anywhere from one to four candlesticks, or can signal the start of a more sustained bullish phase. Should Solana maintain its momentum and break key resistance, reaching $100 would represent a significant milestone not seen since earlier this year. However, any broad selloff across the cryptocurrency market could send the price down, with the next substantial support area identified near $59.

Price LevelSignificance$78Mid-range resistance; breakout could signal rally$100Upper boundary target if momentum holds$59Next major support level in case of correctionOscillator momentum and CPI as major catalystsIn addition to the MACD and TD Sequential, the True Strength Index (TSI) is currently staging a crossover, though it remains slightly negative. If this indicator turns positive and stays above zero, analysts believe it could further reinforce the bullish scenario, making a reclaim of the $78 zone more likely. The Bull Bear Power (BBP) metric has also shown signs of recovery, suggesting a recent shift to a more optimistic sentiment after several days of downturn.

Attention now turns to upcoming macroeconomic data, in particular the Consumer Price Index (CPI) release scheduled for Wednesday. The CPI is closely watched by crypto investors, as a higher-than-expected inflation figure could pressure risk assets, including Solana. Conversely, a softer inflation reading may boost the broader cryptocurrency market and help Solana push through overhead resistance levels.

Solana is a blockchain platform recognized for its high throughput and low transaction costs, which have garnered interest among developers and traders alike.

Mini dictionary: Golden Cross, a technical analysis event where a short-term moving average crosses above a long-term moving average, often seen as a bullish signal.

Analysts point to a combination of technical signals, ranging from the MACD’s Golden Cross to TD Sequential’s buy reading, with confirmation above $78 seen as the catalyst for Solana’s next major swing towards $100.

Investors are also tracking sector trends, such as recent moves in memecoins and overall market liquidity, with some new tokens facing significant volatility. These developments may add further momentum or, conversely, create headwinds for Solana, depending on broader market sentiment.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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MoneyGram is bringing its MoneyGram Ramps service to Solana, giving wallets, exchanges and developers on the network access to the company’s global cash infrastructure.

Rift is the first Solana wallet to integrate Ramps. MoneyGram said the Solana launch will make it easier for developers to embed fiat connectivity into their products while expanding the real-world utility of stablecoins across blockchain ecosystems.

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MoneyGram’s fiat-crypto infrastructure service gives wallets, exchanges and fintech apps access to its cash-in and cash-out network through an API. Users can deposit cash to receive supported digital assets such as USDC, or convert crypto into local currency for collection at participating MoneyGram locations and, in some markets, through bank accounts, mobile wallets or debit cards.

First launched on Stellar, Ramps has expanded to Solana. The service supports cash deposits across more than 25 countries and withdrawals in more than 170 countries and territories.

The launch follows MoneyGram’s entry into the Solana ecosystem as an active validator, deepening its commitment to blockchain infrastructure after more than five years of integrating crypto and stablecoins into its global payments platform.

The company is also joining the Solana Developer Platform as an early institutional adopter alongside Mastercard, helping build and scale compliant financial products on Solana.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Somewhere along the way, DeFi stopped being just about swapping dog coins and started letting people borrow against their Apple stock. Kamino Lend, the lending arm of Kamino Finance on Solana, now controls 82.6% of all tokenized stock lending volume on the network, making it the dominant platform in a category that barely existed a year ago.

As of mid-July 2026, tokenized-stock lending on Solana had reached a total value of $23.1 million. That figure then surged to an all-time high of $53 million in collateral by late July, with Kamino Lend managing over $31 million of that total.

How tokenized stocks ended up in DeFi lending Kamino Lend’s dominance traces back to a single integration. On July 14, 2025, the protocol added support for xStocks, a category of tokenized equities that represent on-chain versions of traditional stocks. Think of them like synthetic shares that live on Solana instead of in a brokerage account.

The integration lets users deposit tokenized versions of assets like SPYx (tracking the S&P 500) and AAPLx (tracking Apple) as collateral, then borrow stablecoins against them. The appeal is straightforward: you get liquidity without selling your equity position.

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xStocks themselves have become the dominant standard for tokenized equities on Solana, commanding roughly 86.5% of the issuance share on the network. That concentration has naturally funneled most of the lending activity toward platforms that support the format, and Kamino got there first.

Jupiter Lend has emerged as the second-largest facilitator of tokenized equity lending on Solana, though it trails Kamino by a wide margin.

Small slice of a much bigger pie Before anyone starts calling this a revolution, some perspective is useful. Kamino Finance’s overall TVL ranges between $1.1 billion and $2.3 billion depending on the mid-2026 snapshot you look at. That means the $31 million in tokenized stock collateral represents somewhere between 1.3% and 2.8% of the protocol’s total deposits.

In other words, tokenized equities are still a rounding error on Kamino’s balance sheet. The vast majority of activity on the platform continues to involve standard crypto assets like SOL, USDC, and other Solana-native tokens.

Rather than simply holding tokenized stocks as passive investments, users are increasingly deploying them as active collateral in lending markets.

What this means for the tokenized asset landscape For traditional equity investors, the proposition is genuinely novel. The ability to hold a tokenized version of a stock portfolio and borrow stablecoins against it without triggering a taxable sale event (depending on jurisdiction, of course) adds a utility layer that doesn’t really exist in traditional finance without a prime brokerage relationship.

Tokenized stocks add layers of counterparty risk that pure crypto collateral doesn’t carry. The xStocks themselves depend on issuers maintaining proper reserves and redemption mechanisms. If the underlying tokenization infrastructure stumbles, the lending protocol inherits those problems.

Solana’s positioning in this niche also creates competitive dynamics worth monitoring. Ethereum has its own tokenized asset ecosystem, including platforms like Ondo Finance and Backed Finance, but much of that activity has focused on tokenized treasuries rather than individual equities. Solana’s xStocks ecosystem is carving out a different lane, one focused on equity exposure and active DeFi composability.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

MoneyGram brings its cash-to-crypto service to Solana, letting users move between digital assets and physical cash across its global network.

MoneyGram has launched its crypto on- and off-ramp service on Solana, letting people on the network move between digital assets and physical cash through the payments company's global network.

MoneyGram is a payments firm with more than 85 years of experience, serving over 60 million customers through nearly half a million retail locations worldwide. 

Its product, MoneyGram Ramps, is a tool that lets apps connect users to cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash services, a "ramp" being the bridge between traditional money and digital assets. 

Solana is a blockchain network built for fast, low-cost transactions, which has made it one of the most active networks for payments, trading, and stablecoins. 

"By connecting our ecosystem to MoneyGram's global payments network through MoneyGram Ramps, developers are able to more easily build financial applications with real-world utility at global scale," said Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the network.

How the service worksRamps is built as an API that lets other apps plug into MoneyGram's network without building their own banking systems or handling complex regulation.

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According to MoneyGram, it supports cash deposits in more than 25 countries and cash withdrawals across more than 170 countries and territories.

For Solana developers, the company said the tool is also built into the Solana Developer Platform's payments module, meaning builders can add cash-to-crypto features directly into their apps.

Trending on TheStreet Roundtable:BlackRock reveals what Bitcoin investors feel right nowBad news for the economy just became great news for BitcoinCathie Wood has strong words about Cloudflare's earnings callRift becomes the first wallet on boardRift, an AI-powered trading platform offering access to equities, commodities, crypto, and foreign exchange, is the first Solana wallet to integrate Ramps. MoneyGram framed it as the start of wider adoption across the network.

The launch extends MoneyGram's push beyond traditional remittances as more financial activity shifts onchain.

"The future of payments is built on access," said Anthony Soohoo, chairman and CEO of MoneyGram, adding that each new platform the company connects expands its network's reach.

The service is now live on Solana.

MoneyGram Ramps is now native to Solana, ending its run as a Stellar-only product. Trading app Rift is the first Solana wallet to integrate it.

MoneyGram has extended MoneyGram Ramps, its cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash API, to Solana, the company said Tuesday. Rift, a self-custody trading app, is the first Solana wallet to integrate it.

Until now, Solana wallets that wanted to route users into MoneyGram's retail cash network had to bridge USDC to Stellar first, through third-party providers such as Allbridge Core or Bridge.xyz, according to MoneyGram's developer documentation. Ramps supported on- and off-ramps only for USDC on Stellar, using the SEP-24 protocol. Going native on Solana removes the bridging step on a chain that holds $15.73 billion in stablecoins, per DefiLlama.

Ramps supports cash deposits in more than 25 countries and cash withdrawals in more than 170 countries and territories. MoneyGram operates nearly 500,000 retail locations and serves more than 60 million customers. The company said developers integrating Ramps get instant API credentials and sandbox access without building banking integrations.

"The future of payments is built on access," said Anthony Soohoo, chairman and CEO of MoneyGram. "Every platform we connect expands the reach of our network."

Validator First, Ramps SecondThe launch follows MoneyGram's June 22 move to run a Solana validator and join the Solana Developer Platform, the Foundation's API layer for institutions building payments and stablecoin products on the chain. Mastercard, Worldpay and Western Union are also on the platform, which launched in March. Ramps is now embedded in its payments module.

MoneyGram became a Solana validator after taking validator roles on Tempo and Midnight, and after partnering with Tempo as an anchor remittance validator in May.

"By connecting our ecosystem to MoneyGram's global payments network through MoneyGram Ramps, developers are able to more easily build financial applications with real-world utility at global scale," said Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation.

Rift Takes The First SlotRift is a mobile trading app offering equities, commodities, crypto, forex and perpetual futures, with lending routed through Solana money market Kamino Finance. The app does not hold user keys, according to its site, and lists a16z, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pantera Capital as backers. MoneyGram described the integration as the start of broader adoption across Solana wallets without naming further partners.

Stellar Still Has MGUSDMoneyGram's stablecoin work remains on Stellar. The company launched MGUSD, a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Stripe subsidiary Bridge, on that chain on June 2, and extended its Stellar Development Foundation partnership on April 22. The Solana launch applies to the ramp layer only.

Western Union reached the same ecosystem with a token, launching its USDPT stablecoin on Solana with Anchorage Digital in May.

SOL traded at $75.93 at publication time, down 1.6% over 24 hours on $1.39 billion of volume, according to CoinGecko.

MoneyGram, one of the world’s leading cross-border payment companies, has expanded its cash-to-crypto Ramps service to the Solana blockchain, enabling wallets, exchanges, and developers to offer seamless conversions between cash and digital assets for users around the globe.

Solana integration offers new reachThe new extension allows users in more than 25 countries to deposit cash for digital asset purchases and provides cash withdrawals from supported cryptocurrency holdings in over 170 countries and territories. MoneyGram’s Ramps service aims to simplify access to digital assets by leveraging the company’s global payment network, eliminating the need for crypto companies to establish separate partnerships with banks or cash services.

Through Ramps, users with compatible wallets can convert local cash into supported digital assets, or withdraw crypto as local currency at MoneyGram’s network locations. This approach connects digital wallets directly to physical payment points and addresses the needs of crypto platforms seeking to reach customers who prefer cash transactions.

The move comes as stablecoins and blockchain-based payment options gain traction for remittances and cross-border transfers. Payment firms, fintechs, and banks have increasingly tested and adopted stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of fiat currencies like the US dollar, aiming to provide cost-effective and rapid international payments.

MoneyGram, which serves around 60 million customers worldwide, has stated that integrating blockchain technology holds the potential for faster, more affordable transfers, while maintaining a user-friendly process.

Expanding blockchain presence and partnershipsMoneyGram has steadily enhanced its involvement in blockchain technology. In 2022, the company partnered with the Stellar Development Foundation to support cash in and cash out services for Circle’s USDC stablecoin, allowing users to move easily between paper currency and digital coins.

In June, MoneyGram announced a new dollar-backed stablecoin, MGUSD, which is issued on the Stellar blockchain through Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure provider owned by global payments firm Stripe.

Additionally, MoneyGram became a validator on the Solana network in June, taking on a role in verifying and securing transactions. Becoming a validator enables a company or individual to help maintain a blockchain’s functionality, confirm transactions, and add new blocks to the chain.

Mini dictionary: Solana validator, a network participant responsible for confirming and securing transactions on the Solana blockchain, helping to maintain its decentralized infrastructure.

The company also joined Open USD, a Stripe-led initiative involving stablecoins, which plans to distribute revenue among a group of partners. This further underlines MoneyGram’s strategy to connect digital assets with its established cash payment network through multiple blockchain platforms.

Chief Executive Anthony Soohoo emphasized an ambition to build a more open global payments infrastructure, focused on broadening access to financial services throughout the expansion of blockchain partnerships.

MoneyGram Blockchain InitiativesKey FeaturesLaunch YearStellar USDC ServiceCash in/cash out for USDC stablecoin2022MGUSD Stablecoin (Stellar via Bridge)Dollar-backed stablecoin issued on Stellar2023Solana Validator StatusProcesses and secures Solana network transactions2023Ramps on SolanaCash-to-crypto for wallets and exchanges2024Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

Solstice Finance has launched $strcUSX, a Solana-based structured product that separates the dividend income and market-price risk associated with Strategy Inc.’s Nasdaq-listed Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock, STRC.

STRC currently pays a 12% annualized cash dividend twice a month, although Strategy’s board can change the rate. The preferred stock also carries market-price risk that can cause investors to lose principal even when dividend payments continue.

$strcUSX divides that exposure into 2 Solana tokens: $SR-strcUSX and $JR-strcUSX.

Two Distinct Exposure Classes The senior $SR-strcUSX tranche targets approximately 7% APY and receives priority on dividend income and principal recovery. The junior $JR-strcUSX tranche targets more than 20% APY but absorbs mark-to-market losses first in exchange for the higher potential return.

Users deposit Solstice’s $USX token into the vault and receive the tranche matching their risk preference. Both tokens operate as SPL tokens, allowing users to trade them or use them across compatible DeFi applications.

Solstice said redemptions require a 7-day unlock period, while users can exit immediately by paying a fee. Yield accrues through the tokens’ exchange rates rather than separate distributions.

Unlike xStocks’ $STRCx and Ondo’s $STRCon, the product does not tokenize STRC shares or give users ownership of Strategy’s preferred stock. Instead, it provides exposure to the economics of a portfolio holding the security.

Season 2 $SLX Claims Open The launch comes as Solstice opens claims for its Season 2 $SLX airdrop.

Users must register their wallets and select a vesting schedule by August 18. The default option carries a 9-month vesting period, while the 6-month option requires users to hold their Season 2 TVL.

The next unlock takes place on August 20, 2026. Daily unlocks will then become available according to each holder’s selected vesting schedule. Claims remain open until the end of the applicable vesting period.

Solstice claims approximately $35 million in capital remained in Season 2 and that participants combined yield from their holdings with $SLX rewards from Flares to generate roughly 25-30% over the season. Season 3 went live on August 1.

Positive Community Reaction Despite $SLX Facing Sell Pressure Community reactions have highlighted generally positive outcomes. One participant reported receiving about 91,000 $SLX, worth roughly $7,500, after building significant Flares exposure through YT-USX.

Another reported spending $245 on a YT position and receiving 16,548 $SLX, valued at about $1,500, representing a claimed 512.24% ROI.

A separate participant reportedly spent about $21,000 across Seasons 1 and 2 and received 957,700 $SLX worth approximately $75,000.

$SLX is trading near its reported all-time low of $0.07436, leaving the market value of these allocations below what they could have been at higher levels.

For participants who chose the 9-month vesting option, the Season 1 allocations continue to unlock daily until March 2027. The Season allocations increase the number of $SLX tokens unlocking daily from August 10. Despite this overhang on the token, participants have generally reported the campaigns to be massively profitable, even at current prices.

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@MoneyGram has brought its Ramps product to @solana, opening its cash network to wallets, exchanges, and developers building on the chain. The service supports cash deposits in more than 25 countries and withdrawals in more than 170 countries and territories. The move marks a significant expansion for a payments company that has been embedding blockchain infrastructure into its core business for several years.

What MoneyGram Ramps Does MoneyGram Ramps is a tool that lets apps connect users to cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash services, a "ramp" being the bridge between traditional money and digital assets. The service lets users convert cash into digital assets or cash them out through MoneyGram's payment network without each crypto app having to build its own connections to banks and cash outlets. MoneyGram Ramps is also embedded in Solana Developer Platform's payments module, which connects Solana builders with the payment flows their applications need to reach users at scale.

Rift becomes the first wallet on Solana to integrate the solution. Rift is an AI-powered trading platform offering access to equities, commodities, crypto, and foreign exchange.

Part of a Broader Multi-Chain Strategy The Solana launch is not MoneyGram's first move on a public blockchain. In 2022, it rolled out a service with the Stellar Development Foundation that allowed users to move between cash and Circle's USDC stablecoin through its retail network, giving crypto wallets a physical entry and exit point for digital dollars. Ramps first launched on Stellar in May 2025, and the Solana integration extends that infrastructure to a second major ecosystem.

The company has also been deepening its ties with Solana, becoming a validator in June, helping process and secure transactions on the network. The move deepens MoneyGram's push into stablecoin-based payments and remittances, building on its earlier USDC cash-on/off-ramp with Stellar and the launch of its own dollar-backed stablecoin, MGUSD.

MoneyGram is a payments firm with more than 85 years of experience, serving over 60 million customers through nearly half a million retail locations worldwide. That physical footprint is central to the product's appeal: for developers building Solana-based financial applications, the embedded Ramps integration removes one of the biggest friction points in user acquisition, with a single API that lets someone walk into a local shop, hand over cash, and receive stablecoins in their wallet.

Sources:
MoneyGram Ramps Goes Multichain with Solana Launch (PR Newswire)
MoneyGram Expands on Solana with Global Crypto-to-Cash Service (CoinDesk)
MoneyGram Expands Global Crypto-to-Cash Service on Solana (Crypto Briefing)