MoneyGram Joins Midnight’s Crypto Privacy Party – Spoiler: No One’s Watching!

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MoneyGram, the company that’s been to your house during tax season, is now a founding federated node operator on Midnight Network. Because obviously, a 200-country payment empire needed a blockchain to hide in before March’s mainnet.

MoneyGram has joined Midnight Network as a founding federated node operator. The payments company covers more than 200 countries and territories. That reach now connects to one of crypto’s most-watched privacy blockchain launches. Because nothing says “privacy” like a company that’s probably still figuring out how to stop your ex from seeing your transactions on their phone.

@midnightfdn posted on X that MoneyGram’s role focuses on exploring how payment networks move on-chain while keeping compliance and privacy intact. The network targets the mainnet in March. Because nothing’s more thrilling than watching a global payment giant tiptoe around regulations in a blockchain suit.

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The Node Roster Nobody Saw Coming

MoneyGram does not join alone. The initial group already includes Google Cloud, Blockdaemon, Shielded Technologies, and AlphaTON. Three new additions follow, per the Midnight Foundation’s blog: Pairpoint by Vodafone, eToro, and MoneyGram. Because why not throw in a tech trifecta of IoT, NASDAQ, and cross-border payment volume that most blockchains can only dream about?

Each operator brings something different. Pairpoint brings IoT infrastructure. eToro brings 35 million users and a NASDAQ listing. MoneyGram brings cross-border payment volume that most blockchain projects never touch. Because nothing says “mission-critical” like a company that’s still using fax machines in 2024.

These are not speculative participants. The Foundation said it picked operators managing high-volume, mission-critical systems. Because if you’re going to gamble with privacy tech, you might as well bet the farm.

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Privacy That Actually Works for Payments

Luke Tuttle, MoneyGram’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, said running blockchain nodes fits naturally into the company’s existing strategy. Privacy, compliance, and reliability get built in from day one, not added later. Because who needs an afterthought when you can plan for chaos from the start?

That framing matters. Settlement on Midnight acts as verifiable proof of compliance. Sensitive user data stays off the open ledger. Zero-knowledge technology handles it. Because nothing’s more reassuring than trusting a system that knows zero about your secrets.

Omri Ross, Chief Blockchain Officer at eToro, said the platform was drawn to Midnight’s approach to programmable data protection and selective disclosure. He described technologies giving granular control over data visibility as foundational to next-gen blockchain infrastructure. eToro had already listed the NIGHT token before joining as a node operator. Because if you’re going to play with fire, you might as well monetize it first.

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March Mainnet: Who Actually Holds the Keys

The Kūkolu phase governs this early mainnet window. Federated operators run the protocol under explicit coordination rules. Full decentralisation follows later, once the network matures. Because why decentralize when you can centralize until the market forgets what “decentralized” even means?

Fahmi Syed, President of the Midnight Foundation, put it plainly. When a global payments network, a Fortune 500-backed telco venture, and a publicly traded fintech all choose the same privacy blockchain, that tells you where the industry is heading. Which is probably a place where no one remembers their own password.

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2026-02-25 19:25