MoonPay
The Miami crypto payments firm that rode the 2021 NFT boom to a $3.4B valuation — with $150M quietly cashed out by insiders — then spent 2025–2026 rebuilding itself as a regulated institutional stablecoin-payments network.
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- Location
- Miami, Florida
- Country
- United States
- Launched
- 2019
- Co-founder and CEO
- Ivan Soto-Wright
- First financing
- $555 million Series A, November 2021 (Tiger Global, Coatue) at a $3.4 billion valuation
- NY licensing
- BitLicense June 2025; Limited Purpose Trust Charter November 2025
- What it does
- Crypto payments infrastructure — fiat-to-crypto on-ramp and off-ramp, stablecoin rails, custody and OTC trading for institutions
Overview
MoonPay is a Miami-based crypto payments company that became the emblem of the 2021 NFT boom’s commercial machinery: its on-ramp let anyone buy cryptocurrency — and, through its NFT “concierge,” Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs — with a credit card instead of first owning crypto (CNBC TV18). Launched in 2019 under co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright, it raised $555 million at a $3.4 billion valuation in November 2021 — but $150 million of that round quietly went to insiders cashing out shares, The Information reported, including Soto-Wright himself (The Block). Since 2025 the company has been rebuilding itself as something different: a regulated institutional payments network for stablecoins and tokenized assets, via an acquisition spree and hard-won New York licenses (PYMNTS; Brave New Coin).
The “PayPal for crypto” years
MoonPay’s pitch was that it offered a “gateway” to digital assets: fiat in, crypto out, usable by debit card, credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, bank transfer. People were calling it “PayPal, but for crypto,” and Soto-Wright leaned into the comparison while insisting on the difference — a future where “it will be frictionless to move any amount of value around anywhere in the world, and costs move as close as possible to zero” (Bankless Times). The firm was profitable from its 2019 launch, Bankless Times reported, and by late 2021 was targeting $150 million in annual revenue after transaction volumes grew 30-fold in a year, with more than 7 million customers (Bankless Times).
The November 2021 Series A — led by Tiger Global and Coatue at $3.4 billion — was the company’s first-ever financing round (Bankless Times; CNBC TV18). What was not disclosed at the time: of the $555 million headline figure, only $405 million came from selling new shares to investors; the remaining $150 million represented shares cashed out by insiders in a secondary transaction, The Information reported in 2023, citing an unnamed source — and MoonPay confirmed the round had included secondary sales (The Block). A few weeks after the round, Soto-Wright purchased a $38 million Miami mansion, later used to host parties during Art Basel (The Block).
The celebrity round and the NFT concierge
MoonPay’s cultural moment came through its NFT business. Its concierge service removed the hardest step of NFT buying — owning crypto first: the customer named a budget, MoonPay bought the required crypto, purchased the NFT, and invoiced the customer. “We’ve tried to make it as similar as a process as you would be interacting with your private bank,” Soto-Wright said (CNBC TV18). That convenience made it the default checkout for the Bored Ape Yacht Club wave — Post Malone bought two BAYC NFTs through the platform and featured MoonPay in the “One Right Now” music video — and celebrities who had used it then invested in it: an $87 million round from 60 celebrity investors including Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Post Malone, and Ashton Kutcher (CNBC TV18). Soto-Wright said the outreach had “virtually no rejections. Everyone wanted to be a part of it” (CNBC TV18).
The 2025 pivot: from on-ramp to institutional rails
The consumer on-ramp company of 2021 looks very different from the company of 2025–2026. In January 2025 MoonPay acquired Helio, a Solana-based crypto payment processor, for $175 million; in March it bought Iron, an API-first stablecoin infrastructure platform, for a reported $100 million-plus; and in September it added Meso to strengthen US banking connections — “the critical components needed to create a single, global payments network,” as the company put it (Brave New Coin; PYMNTS).
The regulatory track ran in parallel. On 4 June 2025 MoonPay secured its BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services, completing US coverage across all 50 states; on 25 November 2025 NYDFS granted it a Limited Purpose Trust Charter, enabling regulated digital-asset custody and over-the-counter trading (Brave New Coin). With both licenses, MoonPay joined an exclusive group of five — Coinbase, PayPal, Ripple, and NYDIG being the others — holding dual New York approval (Brave New Coin). The company had also become one of the first crypto firms approved under the EU’s MiCA regulation in December 2024 (Brave New Coin).
The spree continued into 2026 — Sodot in April, DFlow and Dawn Labs in May, Entendre in June, Glide in July, Rhythm in September — and in September 2026 MoonPay moved on North Capital, a private-markets infrastructure platform whose SEC-registered broker-dealers, alternative trading system, transfer agent, and investment adviser would become MoonPay subsidiaries: the regulatory foundation, in Soto-Wright’s words, “to support mass adoption of tokenized real world assets” (PYMNTS).
What this profile does not claim
The $150 million insider secondary rests on The Information’s unnamed-source reporting as relayed by The Block, with only the company’s confirmation that secondary sales occurred — it is presented with that attribution, not as independently audited fact. Founding-year sources disagree (2018 vs 2019 launch); this profile uses 2019 per CNBC TV18. Co-founders beyond Ivan Soto-Wright were not named in the sources read in full and are not asserted. User, volume, and profitability figures cited from press reports are company statements, not independently verified. Reported-but-unread items — the 2025 debt rounds, the 2025 layoffs, the Iron deal’s exact price — are deliberately omitted.
Timeline
- 2019
- MoonPay launches in Miami as a crypto payment service letting users buy and sell cryptocurrency and NFTs with conventional payment methods — credit cards, bank transfers, mobile wallets. CEO Ivan Soto-Wright frames the mission as making crypto accessible to the masses: "right now we are still in the dial-up days."
- 2021
- In its first-ever financing round MoonPay raises $555 million led by Tiger Global and Coatue at a $3.4 billion valuation, with 7M+ customers, a $150 million annual revenue target, and transaction volumes up 30-fold from 2020 — profitable since launch. Within the round, insiders including co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright cash out $150 million of shares in a secondary transaction not initially disclosed; weeks later Soto-Wright buys a $38 million Miami mansion.
- 2022
- MoonPay raises $87 million from 60 celebrity investors — Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Post Malone, Ashton Kutcher and others — most of them existing users of its NFT "concierge" service, which let buyers purchase Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs without owning crypto first. Post Malone features MoonPay in the "One Right Now" music video.
- 2025
- MoonPay pivots to institutional rails: acquires Solana payments processor Helio for $175 million (January) and stablecoin infrastructure firm Iron for $100 million-plus (March), then payments startup Meso (September). On 4 June it secures a NYDFS BitLicense completing US coverage; on 25 November it receives a Limited Purpose Trust Charter, joining Coinbase, PayPal, Ripple, and NYDIG as one of five firms holding both New York licenses — enabling regulated custody and OTC trading.
- 2026
- MoonPay continues its acquisition spree — Sodot (April), DFlow and Dawn Labs (May), Entendre (June), Glide (July), Rhythm (September) — and in September agrees to acquire North Capital, a private-markets infrastructure platform whose SEC-registered broker-dealers, ATS, transfer agent, and investment adviser would become MoonPay subsidiaries, pushing into tokenized real-world assets.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- Founding-year discrepancy — CNBC TV18 states "launched in 2019" and Bankless Times says profitable "since its launch in 2019", but Bankless Times also writes "MoonPay was founded in 2018". The 2019 launch year is used as the verified one.
- Co-founders beyond Ivan Soto-Wright (reported elsewhere as Victor Faramond and Maximilian Crown) were not named in the independently read sources and are not asserted.
- The $150M insider secondary is attributed to The Information's reporting (unnamed source), relayed by The Block, with the company's confirmation that the round included secondary sales; the profile presents it with that attribution.
- User, transaction-volume, and profitability figures (30M accounts, $8B+ cumulative volume) are company statements relayed in press and are not independently verified.
- Reported-but-unread items (2025 debt rounds, layoffs) are deliberately omitted.
Sources
5 sources (1 tier 1, 3 tier 2, 1 tier 3), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.
- Supports: Launched 2019; on-ramp/off-ramp explainer; $87M celebrity round (Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Paltrow, Post Malone, Kutcher...); NFT concierge + BAYC mechanics; Post Malone "One Right Now" video; Soto-Wright "private bank" and celebrity-outreach quotes; 10M users / 160 countries / ~$3B transactions (company figures) Open original source
- Supports: $150M insider secondary inside the Nov 2021 $555M Series A ($405M to the company, $150M to insiders incl. Soto-Wright) per The Information's unnamed source; company confirmed secondary sales; Soto-Wright $38M Miami mansion weeks later; $3.4B valuation, Tiger Global and Coatue participation Open original source
- Supports: North Capital acquisition (SEC-registered broker-dealers, ATS/PPEX, transfer agent, investment adviser; $8.7B+ volume, 1,250+ assets); Soto-Wright "founder and CEO" + regulatory-foundation quotes; full 2025–2026 acquisition list (Helio Jan 2025, Iron Mar 2025, Meso Sep 2025, Sodot Apr, DFlow/Dawn Labs May, Entendre Jun, Glide Jul, Rhythm Sep) Open original source
- Supports: Limited Purpose Trust Charter granted by NYDFS on 25 Nov 2025; BitLicense 4 Jun 2025 completing all-50-states coverage; dual-license group = Coinbase, PayPal, Ripple, NYDIG; custody + OTC trading capabilities; 2025 acquisitions (Helio $175M, Iron, Meso); MiCA approval Dec 2024; 2024 profitability and 2025 earnings expectations Open original source
- Supports: Corroboration only — Nov 2021 $555M first financing (Tiger Global, Coatue, $3.4B valuation); "PayPal for crypto" framing; Soto-Wright "dial-up days" interview quote; profitable since 2019 launch; $150M revenue target; 7M+ customers; 30-fold volume growth Open original source
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