MoonPay, the crypto payments and infrastructure company, has agreed to acquire North Capital, an SEC-registered broker-dealer, in an all-stock transaction valued at roughly $60 million, as the firm pushes deeper into the tokenization of real-world assets.
A Strategic Bet on Tokenization
The deal gives MoonPay access to North Capital's regulatory credentials and broker-dealer infrastructure, positioning the company to offer tokenized versions of traditional financial assets. CEO Ivan Soto-Wright framed the acquisition as central to MoonPay's ambition of bringing tokenized real-world assets, or RWAs, into the mainstream.
Tokenization refers to the process of representing traditional assets — such as stocks, bonds, funds, or real estate — as digital tokens on a blockchain. The concept has drawn growing interest from major financial institutions seeking faster settlement and broader access to previously illiquid markets.
MoonPay is betting that the future of finance runs through tokenized versions of the assets people already own.
Regulatory Footing and Industry Momentum
By absorbing an SEC-registered entity, MoonPay gains a compliance foundation that could smooth its expansion into regulated products in the United States. Acquiring an established broker-dealer license is often faster and less risky than building one from scratch, giving the company a quicker route to offering securities-based tokenized offerings.
The move reflects a wider trend across the crypto sector, where firms are racing to marry blockchain technology with traditional finance under clearer regulatory frameworks. As institutional appetite for on-chain assets grows, companies with regulatory approvals have become increasingly attractive acquisition targets.
Key elements of the deal include:
- An all-stock structure valued at approximately $60 million
- North Capital's status as an SEC-registered broker-dealer
- A stated focus on advancing adoption of tokenized real-world assets
For MoonPay, the acquisition marks another step in its evolution from a consumer-facing crypto payments provider toward a broader financial infrastructure company aiming to bridge digital and traditional markets.