MoonPay’s Ivan Soto-Wright Bets on a Non-Custodial, API-First Future for Crypto

As the crypto house consolidates, MoonPay is quietly turning into the infrastructure layer for the following wave of Web3.

With over 30 million verified customers throughout 160 international locations and a totally licensed international stack, the corporate is enabling all the pieces from fiat onramps to embedded DeFi experiences.

Originally launched to make pockets top-ups seamless through Apple Pay and debit playing cards, MoonPay now powers API-first options utilized by practically each main DeFi app.

“We started with a simple question, how do you top up your wallet?” MoonPay’s CEO and co-founder Ivan Soto-Wright instructed CoinDesk in an interview. Now it’s about giving builders the instruments to deliver crypto into on a regular basis life.

Ivan Soto-Wright is talking on the principle stage at Consensus 2025, in Toronto on May 15.

The firm is pushing towards a totally API-driven, “headless” infrastructure mannequin, the place builders can plug MoonPay into their merchandise identical to Stripe.

Helio, one in every of MoonPay’s current acquisitions, underscores this trajectory. Moonpay acquired the Solana-powered crypto cost processor in January, for a reported $175 million.

Despite its dimension and attain, MoonPay nonetheless operates with a startup mentality. With solely 300 staff, the workforce is “execution-first” and relentlessly targeted on effectivity. The firm noticed 112% year-on-year progress, with Q1 2025 marking its strongest quarter ever.

MoonPay primarily earns through transaction charges on crypto purchases by debit playing cards, Venmo, and Apple Pay. But it’s experimenting with zero-fee buying and selling merchandise like “Balance,” which permits customers to deposit money and commerce immediately.

Soto-Wright is a well-known entrepreneur and investor, and is a member of the Milken Institute Fintech Advisory Council.

Prior to MoonPay, he was CEO and co-founder of sensible cash app Saveable. He began his profession at London-based funding agency Redington.

CoinDesk: What tendencies do you see rising in crypto?

Soto-Wright: “DEXs will overtake CEXs,” with customers demanding management over their belongings however anticipating the sleek UX of a centralized platform.”

“MoonPay’s ethos is that extra crypto transactions needs to be peer-to-peer, profiting from decentralized exchanges. We’re seeing a normal shift from CeFi to DeFi, with decentralized exchanges at present dominating 30% of the market. I see this development persevering with to shift over time – DeFi is international and finally reduces friction and prices by slicing out the intermediary.”

How do you anticipate the pockets market to develop?

“Cryptocurrency wallets will eventually replace bank accounts. Users will have multiple wallets, like you and I have a number of bank accounts now. MoonPay provides the mission-critical infrastructure to power these wallet experiences, both from our MoonPay Widget product and APIs.”

Does MoonPay plan to make extra acquisitions within the close to time period?

“M&A is a enormous progress driver to our enterprise. We view it as an accelerator to assist us transfer rapidly and convey extra merchandise to market. A giant a part of our M&A technique is figuring out the precise corporations to assist obtain our imaginative and prescient for the way forward for funds. An instance of that is Helio, which unlocked our capacity to energy crypto commerce for retailers.”

“We’re always open to M&A,” Soto-Wright said, noting that past acquisitions have been cash-flow positive from day one. “It’s about speed, scaling by acquiring great teams with a sharp founder mindset.”

What features do customers want, better UX?

A central theme for MoonPay is the shift from custodial to non-custodial finance. “We believe crypto should be non-custodial first,” said the company’s CEO.

To facilitate this shift, MoonPay is developing what it calls the “CEX experience in a DeFi environment.” That means abstracting away the complexity of DeFi —wallets, UTXOs, compliance — into easy-to-integrate SDKs and widgets. “Think of it like packaging up the convenience of a centralized exchange and putting it into your own wallet.”

What does the future have in store for MoonPay?

While not yet confirmed, a MoonPay stablecoin could be in the pipeline.

“We’re taking our time, but you can see the early signs in Balance. Eventually, there could be a stablecoin.”

READ MORE: Why MoonPay and PayPal Partnered to Expand Crypto Adoption within the U.S.

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