Digital asset service provider MoonPay has inched a step closer towards catering to a wider institutional audience, by acquiring crypto infrastructure firm Sadot.
The deal, announced on Wednesday, is currently valued at $100 million and is aimed at serving banks, asset managers, trading firms, and exchanges moving into digital assets.
However, an interesting part of the purchase comes in the way it will be conducted. Moonpay has also announced the launch of MoonPay Institutional, a new unit built for large financial institutions looking to access crypto. The Sodot acquisition is a part of the new tool launch, making the firm merge the two services to create a new unit.
Further, separate media reports highlight that the deal will be conducted in an all-stock swap manner, with chief legal offer Caroline D. Pham leading the segment.
Perks of the purchase
MoonPay stated that Sodot’s technology will serve as the security basis for the institutional platform.
According to the official press release, Sodot has secured over $50 billion in transactions and safeguarded over 10 million wallets for companies such as eToro, BitGo, Flow Traders, and Exodus.
MoonPay is trying to position itself as a full-stack infrastructure provider for regulated financial institutions, with its latest acquisition strategy aimed at bringing several fragmented crypto functions into one unified system.
The main idea behind the new purchase and launching a separate unit is that it represents an attempt to shift from the present system, which implies reliance on numerous separate providers for wallet management, custody services, trading, settlement process, collateral management, and regulatory compliance.
Rather than integrating all these functions separately, MoonPay plans to provide the entire stack within a unified platform.
Terms of the deal
As part of the plan, the company says it will provide self-hosted wallet infrastructure using MPC (multi-party computation) and TEE (trusted execution environment) technologies.
These systems aim to improve the level of security involved by distributing the private key into separate levels, minimizing chances of hacks and failure at any one point in time, yet allowing organizations to retain control over their funds.
On the custody side, services will run through MoonPay’s New York trust company, which gives it a regulated structure to hold and manage digital assets for institutional clients.
Other functionalities that would be part of the platform include on-chain order routing and execution services, enabling institutions to conduct their transactions on the blockchain rather than depending solely on off-chain systems.
MoonPay also plans to integrate access to OTC desks and DeFi liquidity, giving institutions flexibility in how they source and execute trades depending on market conditions. It is also building out stablecoin and payments infrastructure to connect blockchain-based settlement with real-world financial flows.
Deal comes amid MoonPay’s expansion ideology
Over the past few years, MoonPay has steadily moved beyond its original payments focus. It acquired crypto firm Iron in a deal worth at least $100 million, strengthening its stablecoin infrastructure capabilities.
Later, the company also purchased Helio for $175 million, adding another milestone to its presence in Solana-based payments, along with the payments startup company called Meso.
Towards late 2025, MoonPay was also able to obtain a trust charter in New York as well as a BitLicense in the country, thereby positioning itself favorably under the regulations applicable in the country. The licenses enable it to offer legal services for custody as well as institutionally oriented trading services to banks and large financial firms.
The acquisitions made by MoonPay show the intent of the company in transitioning from being solely focused on cryptocurrency payments to being a regulated infrastructure company for institutional participation in digital assets.
