Cryptocurrency payments company MoonPay is set to acquire private-markets investment platform North Capital to support its tokenization efforts, according to an emailed announcement Wednesday.
Salt Lake City, Utah-based North Capital, whose platform boasts around $9 billion in primary and secondary transaction volume, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of MoonPay after the transaction closes, subject to regulatory approval.
The all-stock deal is worth over $60 million, sources familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.
The acquisition will support MoonPay’s aim of “building the regulatory foundation to support mass adoption of tokenized real-world assets,” according to CEO and founder Ivan Soto-Wright.
“We believe bringing those capabilities into the MoonPay ecosystem can help connect different parts of the financial system through modern, programmable infrastructure,” Soto-Wright added.
North Capital provides the tech infrastructure for tokenizing securities for private securities issuers and fund managers, supporting capital raising, asset management, clearing, custody, and secondary trading.
North Capital’s affiliates hold relevant broker-dealer, trading, transfer and investment advisory registrations with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
MoonPay has expanded beyond its core business of crypto payments in recent months, establishing its Trade platform to connect banks and fintechs to tokenized assets, DeFi protocols and stablecoin liquidity.
The acquisition of North Capital also continues a spree of buys from earlier this year, including Solana-based trading infrastructure provider DFlow and security startup Sodot.
Tokenization refers to minting real-world assets like equities, bonds, and commodities in token form that can be bought, sold, and traded on blockchains. It has become one of the most prominent use cases of blockchain technology by traditional financial (TradFi) institutions in recent years, with predictions of it becoming s multi-trillion dollar sector in years to come.
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