MoonPay acquires Helio for $175M to expand crypto payments infrastructure

Crypto payments platform MoonPay has acquired blockchain payment processor Helio for $175 million, marking the start of a series. strategic mergers FOX Business has found that in the digital asset space under the crypto-friendly Trump administration.

The acquisition is privately held MoonPay’s largest to date, and will expand its payment infrastructure by integrating Helio’s technology, which enables crypto transactions in a fraction of the time. e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Discord.

There are no reports of a deal.

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A presentation of cryptocurrencies is seen in this illustration photo taken on Nov. 14, 2022 in Krakow, Poland. ((Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images) / Getty Images)

“By teaming up with MoonPay, we’re excited to accelerate our mission and unlock the potential of crypto by replacing slow, costly merchant payments with fast, affordable and decentralized solutions,” said Stijn Paumen, CEO and co-founder of Helio, who is also a private company.

Last year, MoonPay partnered with traditional payment giants PayPal and Venmo, allowing: users to buy cryptocurrency through those platforms.

The acquisition and partnership underscore the growing influence of so-called decentralized finance (DeFi), which proponents believe could revolutionize traditional payment channels such as banks and credit cards by using blockchain, the technology behind digital assets, to make transactions faster and cheap to set up.

“This acquisition is an important step in advancing our vision for the future of payments,” said Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO and co-founder of MoonPay. Our ability to provide secure and scalable solutions. Together with MoonPay and Helio, we now offer the most comprehensive product for on-chain payments.”

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Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump gestures at the Bitcoin 2024 event on July 27, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Reuters/Kevin Wurm/File Photo/Reuters Photos)

Industry watchers say the deal is a sign of more to come.Crypto’s trajectory is expected to grow under President-elect Donald Trump After four years of stagnation under the Biden administration, which unleashed a regulatory crackdown on the industry, the result was that US crypto companies moved offshore, preferring to do business in places like Europe and Asia, where less stringent regulations allowed their businesses to thrive.

In exchange for votes and campaign donations, Trump has promised to cut regulations and make the U.S “the crypto capital of the planet”. His pro-business, pro-innovation agenda is expected to spur renewed corporate M&A activity, particularly in media and banking, but could also extend to the $3.5 trillion crypto industry.