MoonPay

MoonPay is one of the most widely deployed fiat-to-crypto payment gateways in the world, allowing anyone to buy, sell, and manage digital assets using the payment methods they already use — credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, bank transfers, and a growing roster of regional options. Founded in 2018, it has grown to serve more than 35 million verified accounts across 180 countries, operating as infrastructure that other wallets, apps, and platforms embed rather than build themselves.

What Problem It Solves

Acquiring cryptocurrency has historically required users to navigate centralized exchanges, complete lengthy identity verification processes, fund an exchange account, and then withdraw assets to a self-custody wallet. MoonPay collapses that journey into a widget — embedded directly inside a third-party app or wallet — where a user selects an asset, enters a payment method, and receives tokens in a wallet of their choosing. The platform handles KYC, payment processing, compliance, and settlement invisibly, so developers building Solana wallets, DeFi frontends, or NFT marketplaces do not need to build those rails themselves.

Core Mechanism

MoonPay operates as a licensed payment gateway and on/off-ramp. On the on-ramp side, users submit a payment in fiat currency and MoonPay delivers the purchased cryptocurrency to a specified wallet address after identity verification and payment settlement. On the off-ramp side, users transfer crypto to MoonPay and receive fiat in return via bank transfer or card credit.

For developers, MoonPay offers two integration tiers. The hosted solution embeds a pre-built, fully managed widget in hours: MoonPay runs KYC, payment processing, and the interface. The developer platform gives partners full control over UI and user experience, building directly on MoonPay's APIs and SDKs with custom flows and branding while relying on MoonPay's payment rails and compliance infrastructure beneath the surface. Both paths support pre-filling user details — wallet address, email, selected asset, preferred currency, and amount — to reduce steps for returning users.

Key Features

Buy and sell crypto: Users purchase cryptocurrency using Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, SEPA transfers, Faster Payments, Revolut Pay, Interact, Paysafe, Yellow Card, PIX, and bank transfers. Selling reverses the flow, moving crypto balances into bank accounts or card credits.

MoonTags: A human-readable addressing layer that replaces raw wallet addresses for sending and receiving, reducing the risk of errors in peer-to-peer transfers.

MoonPay Trade: An institutional platform providing access to more than 200 chains and protocols through a single API, targeting enterprises and treasury operations requiring programmatic asset management at scale.

PayBox: Launched in July 2026, PayBox is a non-custodial payment vault designed for AI agents. It allows Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI assistants to propose and execute cryptocurrency transactions on behalf of users — without holding private keys. The flow is: a user describes an intent in natural language, the agent prepares a transaction, and the user approves it via passkey before funds move. PayBox is particularly Solana-native at launch, enabling agents to trade any token on Solana in addition to supporting Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, Hyperliquid, Tempo, and Robinhood Chain. The MPC security architecture (built on Sodot technology) splits wallet keys across hardware-isolated enclaves, meaning neither the AI agent nor MoonPay can sign a transaction unilaterally. Each passkey approval is scoped to a single action and expires after use, preventing replay attacks. The system has been audited by Trail of Bits and NCC Group and meets PCI DSS standards.

Supported Tokens and Assets

MoonPay supports buying and selling major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, XRP, Dogecoin, Aave, Chainlink, USDC, and more than 100 additional tokens spanning dozens of blockchain networks. For Solana specifically, users can purchase SOL and SPL tokens directly within existing wallet interfaces. Stablecoin support extends to USDC and USDH on Hyperliquid, with ongoing additions across chains.

Solana Ecosystem Fit

MoonPay has made Solana a focal point of its ecosystem strategy. The most visible integration is with Phantom, the dominant Solana wallet, which allows Phantom users to purchase SOL and SPL tokens directly within the wallet interface using traditional payment methods, eliminating the need to visit an exchange. During the initial launch, MoonPay waived fees for Phantom users to drive adoption.

PayBox extends the Solana relationship further. As of its July 2026 launch, Solana is the primary chain for AI agent trading within PayBox — the initial announcement highlighted Solana trades as the headline use case. This positions MoonPay as payment infrastructure for an emerging category of autonomous AI-driven on-chain activity on Solana, beyond conventional consumer on-ramp use.

MoonPay has also expanded into the Solana Mobile ecosystem, embedding fiat on-ramp access for the growing category of crypto-native mobile devices.

Business and Regulatory Standing

MoonPay reported $107.6 million in revenue for 2025, with approximately 7.2% market share in crypto payments, making it one of the larger independent on-ramp providers by revenue. The platform holds regulatory authorization in multiple jurisdictions and published compliance guidance around the EU's MiCA framework ahead of the July 2026 EEA deadline.

On the product side, MoonPay has expanded through acquisitions: Glide was purchased to strengthen its deposits infrastructure, and Entendre was acquired to provide automated reconciliation, bookkeeping, and treasury services for institutional clients. The ChatGPT App Store integration, launched in 2026, made MoonPay the first crypto on-ramp available inside ChatGPT, supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, USDC, and more than 100 tokens across 30 blockchain networks.

Security and Compliance

For standard on-ramp transactions, MoonPay performs KYC on all users and operates under financial licensing in the jurisdictions it serves. For PayBox, the MPC architecture ensures that user private keys are never held in a single location — hardware-isolated enclaves hold key shares, and transaction signing requires coordination across them. Trail of Bits and NCC Group have audited the system. Passkey-scoped approvals provide a user-controlled authorization layer on top of the technical security model, with each approval expiring after a single use to prevent replay attacks.

Developer Access

Documentation is available at dev.moonpay.com with two integration paths: a hosted widget (deployable in hours) and a full API/SDK platform (for custom flows). Partners can obtain API credentials through MoonPay's partner dashboard. Mobile apps maintain a 4.4-star rating on the Apple App Store and 4.5 stars on Google Play based on more than 100,000 combined reviews.