In a significant move reflecting the evolving landscape of digital finance, Moonpay has acquired the Israeli startup Sodot for $100 million in an all-stock transaction finalized in April 2026. This acquisition marks a pivotal transition for Moonpay, which has historically operated as a fiat-to-crypto gateway for retail users, now positioning itself as a key infrastructure provider for regulated financial entities.
The integration of Sodot, a firm renowned for its advancements in high-end cryptography and key management solutions, serves as the technological foundation for Moonpay’s latest business venture, Moonpay Institutional. Under the leadership of Caroline Pham, a former acting Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the new unit aims to cater to a growing demand among institutional investors for compliant access to decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoin markets.
The recent surge in the stablecoin market, with its cap soaring over 50% to approximately $320 billion since early 2025, underscores the urgency of Moonpay’s strategic pivot. By establishing itself as a primary facilitator for institutional crypto transactions, Moonpay is looking to capture this burgeoning market segment. Pham, with her extensive background in finance and regulation, indicates that Moonpay is intent on assuring Wall Street of its commitment to compliance while addressing the increasing pressure from boards and investors for comprehensive digital asset strategies.
Equipped with a New York Limited Purpose Trust Company charter and a Bitlicense, Moonpay is prepared to handle custody services required by traditional financial firms. The acquisition of Sodot enhances this regulatory posture, providing critical technological capabilities. Founded in 2023, Sodot employs Multi-Party Computation (MPC) and Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) systems to secure digital keys, ensuring that institutions can manage private keys with no third-party exposure—an essential feature for firms managing substantial amounts of client capital. Having already secured over $50 billion in transactions, Sodot’s technology has garnered the trust of clients like Etoro and Bitgo.
With the complete Sodot team now integrated into Moonpay, the company signals its intent to invest further in Israeli operations to leverage the region’s expertise in cryptography. Moonpay Institutional is designed to be a versatile, protocol-agnostic platform, offering services ranging from wallet infrastructure and custody to trade execution and over-the-counter (OTC) liquidity. By providing a unified API connected to over 200 blockchain networks, Moonpay aims to address the longstanding fragmentation in institutional crypto adoption.
The timing of this launch coincides with a remarkable increase in on-chain activity, as stablecoin transaction volumes reached an astonishing $33 trillion in 2025, with over $28 trillion logged in just the first quarter of 2026. This surge indicates that significant asset managers are actively pursuing exposure to DeFi yields and tokenized real-world assets.
Moonpay’s CEO, Ivan Soto-Wright, believes that the establishment of the institutional arm represents a natural progression for the company. By coupling Sodot’s robust security features with Moonpay’s expansive reach, the firm is well-positioned to onboard the next generation of financial services firms. As the boundaries between traditional finance and decentralized protocols increasingly blur, Moonpay’s $100 million investment in cutting-edge technology and its leadership under a former CFTC chief signal a bold bet on the future of finance being regulated, on-chain, and firmly in the institutional domain.
