- MoonPay announced an all-stock agreement to acquire North Capital for more than $60 million.
- North Capital said about $9 billion in primary and secondary transaction volume has flowed through its private-markets platform.
- The transaction remains subject to closing conditions and required regulatory approvals.
Crypto payments company MoonPay announced an agreement to acquire private-markets investment platform North Capital for more than $60 million in stock. The planned acquisition would expand MoonPay beyond crypto payments by adding regulated infrastructure for issuing, trading and managing tokenized securities.
After the transaction closes and the required regulatory approvals are obtained, Salt Lake City-based North Capital will become a MoonPay subsidiary.
MoonPay expands tokenization infrastructure
North Capital provides technology infrastructure for private issuers and fund managers to tokenize securities. Its operations cover capital raising and asset management, clearing and custody services, primary and secondary trading, and the issuance of tokenized securities.
According to the company, about $9 billion in primary and secondary transaction volume has flowed through the North Capital platform. North Capital’s affiliated entities hold registrations with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a broker-dealer, trading platform, transfer agent and investment adviser.
MoonPay founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright said the acquisition aligns with the company’s strategy to develop the tokenized-asset market.
“We believe bringing those capabilities into the MoonPay ecosystem can help connect different parts of the financial system through modern, programmable infrastructure.”
Soto-Wright also said the deal should help “build a regulatory foundation for the mass adoption of tokenized real-world assets.”
Expansion beyond crypto payments
The acquisition continues MoonPay’s push beyond crypto payments. The company previously launched Trade, a platform intended to connect banks and financial-technology companies with tokenized assets, decentralized-finance protocols and stablecoin liquidity.
MoonPay has also acquired Solana-based trading-infrastructure provider DFlow and security-focused crypto startup Sodot in a $100 million stock deal.
Tokenization involves representing real-world assets, including stocks, bonds and commodities, as tokens that can be traded on blockchains. Traditional financial institutions are increasingly focusing on this area.
MoonPay has also expanded into artificial intelligence with PayBox, a payment vault and non-custodial wallet that enables users to conduct crypto transactions directly in chats with ChatGPT and Claude. The company planned to add support for Gemini and Grok within a month.
Source: Incrypted
