MoonPay acquires North Capital for more than $60 million

Crypto payments company MoonPay announces plans to acquire North Capital, an investment platform for private markets. The deal is worth more than $60 million and will be settled entirely in shares. With the acquisition, MoonPay aims to strengthen its position in the market for tokenised real-world assets, CoinDesk reports, citing insiders.

In brief:

• MoonPay acquires North Capital in a share transaction worth more than $60 million
• North Capital processed approximately $9 billion in transactions and holds relevant SEC registrations
• The acquisition should help MoonPay with the rollout of tokenised real-world assets

North Capital to become wholly owned subsidiary of MoonPay

North Capital, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, has so far processed approximately $9 billion in transactions on both primary and secondary markets. After the deal closes, the company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of MoonPay, subject to regulatory approval.

North Capital’s affiliated companies hold SEC registrations and provide infrastructure for, among other things, the tokenisation of securities, asset management, clearing, custody and secondary trading. This makes the acquisition strategically interesting for MoonPay, which thereby gains direct access to a regulated foundation for its plans.

Regulatory basis for tokenisation of assets

MoonPay founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright says the acquisition contributes to the goal of “building the regulatory basis for broad adoption of tokenised real-world assets”. Tokenisation means that ownership rights to physical or financial assets, such as real estate or shares, are converted into digital tokens on a blockchain.

Interest from major players in this segment is growing. For example, BlackRock previously pointed to the growth opportunities within digital assets. For MoonPay, the acquisition of North Capital is a concrete step towards a regulated platform on which customers can buy, manage and trade tokenised investments.