Intercontinental Trade (ICE), the proprietor of the New York Inventory Trade, plans to speculate an undisclosed quantity within the MoonPay cryptocurrency, Bloomberg claims.
MoonPay is nearing completion of funding and is searching for a $5 billion valuation. An individual aware of the spherical reportedly stated the talks have been personal, which is why he didn’t need his identify revealed.
This exhibits how ICE continues to broaden additional into the cryptocurrency area as political help for the business will increase below President Donald Trump’s administration.
Wall Avenue has been vocal about digital property this 12 months. Again in October, ICE agreed to speculate as much as $2 billion in Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction market platform that enables folks to wager on real-world occasions.
MoonPay expands operations and staffing whereas selling funding
MoonPay began in 2019 and constructed software program that enables customers to maneuver between common cash and cryptocurrencies with out stress.
The corporate’s final funding spherical came about on the finish of 2021, when the bull market was nonetheless robust, and the spherical valued the corporate at $3.4 billion. MoonPay has moved rapidly this 12 months, spending cash to accumulate at the very least 4 startups to broaden its stablecoin enterprise.
All of this occurred as Congress handed a brand new stablecoin invoice in July, opening the door to broader use of dollar-pegged tokens throughout the nation.
The corporate additionally introduced main hiring on Wednesday. Caroline Pham, performing chair of the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee, will be a part of MoonPay as chief authorized officer. MoonPay stated in an X assertion that Pham will “lead the following chapter of progress and compliance excellence after he concludes his position as performing chairman.”
She was quickly chosen by President Trump to chair the CFTC in January. The corporate stated her new job comes because it continues to construct instruments that enable customers to transform U.S. {dollars} and different currencies into digital property.
When requested about Pham’s subsequent steps, a CFTC spokesperson echoed his earlier statements and stated he supposed to return to the personal sector if confirmed as everlasting chair.
President Trump has nominated Michael Selig for the position, however the Senate has not but voted. Lawmakers might vote Thursday earlier than leaving Washington for trip.
Crypto sector attracts new capital as firms search transparency from Washington
Since Pham grew to become performing chairman, the CFTC has seen elevated exercise in prediction markets, taken steps to deliver offshore crypto firms again to the USA, and even carried out what it calls an “enforcement dash” on firms the CFTC has in its sights.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain firms have already raised about $19 billion in 2025, the very best quantity since 2022, based on PitchBook figures.
Ripple additionally raised $500 million at a valuation of $40 billion in early November. Buyers included funds related to Fortress Funding Group and Citadel Securities.
Ripple President Monica Lengthy stated the corporate is seeing robust demand for stablecoin funds, including, “Given this momentum, the entire business is admittedly open to and narrowing their eyes on stablecoin funds. This has all the time been on the coronary heart of our technique,” including that Ripple has doubled its buyer base on this area quarter-over-quarter.
Ripple needs to be an infrastructure associate for establishments shifting to cryptocurrencies. Curiosity from these firms has elevated through the Trump administration’s second time period as regulation shrinks and the White Home pivots to help digital property.
Trump has already signed the primary federal laws on stablecoins. Firms like Coinbase and Ripple are at present discovering methods to determine themselves because the main crypto-native companions of monetary establishments getting into the market.
