MoneyGram steps up to secure Stellar

@MoneyGram, @Figure, and @range_org are set to run Tier 1 validators on the Stellar network, with all three expected to plug into the quorum by mid-August. The move marks a significant step for each organisation, shifting from building products on Stellar to actively anchoring its consensus layer.

What Tier 1 Actually Means

Tier 1 organisations are a group that bears the safety and liveness of the Stellar network on their shoulders. Together, they bear the safety and liveness of the network given that most other validators require their agreement under the Stellar Consensus Protocol, with SDF acting as coordinator to ensure network health while each Tier 1 organisation maintains control over its own quorum set.

Since April 2025, there have been seven Tier 1 organisations, each operating three full validators, for a total of 21 Tier 1 validators. Those organisations are Blockdaemon, Creit Technologies, Franklin Templeton, LOBSTR, Public Node, SatoshiPay, and SDF. The addition of MoneyGram, Figure Markets, and Range would materially expand that group, in line with a broader push by the Stellar Development Foundation to grow the Tier 1 roster and improve fault tolerance across the network.

From Builder to Operator

In 2021, MoneyGram partnered with the Stellar Development Foundation to enable cash-to-stablecoin conversion. MoneyGram Ramps supports cash deposits from local currency to USDC on Stellar across 40 countries and cash withdrawals from USDC on Stellar to local currency in more than 170 countries across nearly 500,000 locations. Now the payments company moves from operating on top of the chain to helping run it at the protocol level.

Stellar's stablecoin footprint in 2026 includes USDC from Circle, EURC, YLDS from Figure (a yield-bearing dollar stablecoin), and MGUSD, issued by Bridge for MoneyGram and launched on June 2, 2026. Figure Markets' involvement in the validator set is a natural extension of its existing asset issuance on the network. Range brings a security-focused infrastructure stack to the quorum.

The timing fits a broader pattern. The Stellar Development Foundation has targeted raising the roster of Tier 1 validators from 7 to 13, which would double fault-tolerance from two organisational failures to four. The urgency is clear: smart-contract volume has grown sharply since Soroban's launch, and institutional asset issuers will not commit capital to a network that can freeze if three entities go dark.

With three heavyweight names joining the quorum simultaneously, Stellar's payment rails gain both institutional credibility and a more resilient consensus foundation ahead of what is shaping up to be a pivotal period for on-chain payments infrastructure.

Sources:
Stellar.org: MoneyGram, Figure Markets, and Range to Help Secure the Stellar Network
Stellar Docs: Tier 1 Organizations
Stellar.org: MoneyGram Ramps