MoonPay has acquired Dawn Labs, adding an artificial intelligence trading infrastructure team to its expanding crypto financial services business. The acquisition was announced alongside the launch of Dawn CLI, a trading-focused platform designed to let users create automated trading strategies using natural language prompts. Financial details of the transaction were undisclosed.
The deal reflects a wider trend across the crypto sector, where infrastructure providers are increasingly investing in AI-powered tools that automate market analysis, trading execution and on-chain financial operations. It also comes as prediction market activity continues to rise across crypto-native and regulated platforms.
Dawn CLI Targets Retail Access to Algorithmic Trading
Dawn Labs, founded in 2025, focused on building software systems that allow AI agents to analyze markets, generate trading logic and execute financial transactions autonomously.
Its newly launched product, Dawn CLI, is aimed at simplifying strategy creation for non-technical traders. Instead of writing code manually, users can describe a trading idea in plain English. The platform then generates executable trading logic, runs simulations and backtests, and automates execution across supported venues. MoonPay said the platform will initially integrate with prediction market platform Polymarket, giving traders a way to automate event-driven strategies without building custom trading bots manually.
The system also includes automated research functions intended to surface relevant market signals and trading data. According to the company, the AI-generated trading logic can be reviewed and audited by users before deployment, a feature designed to improve transparency around automated execution.
Algorithmic trading tools have traditionally required expertise across software engineering, quantitative research and portfolio management. The emergence of AI-assisted platforms is lowering that barrier by automating parts of the workflow previously handled manually. This shift is attracting both established financial infrastructure providers and emerging startups. Recent developments such as Elastics launches AI infrastructure for prediction market trading further highlight how competition is intensifying as companies race to build scalable automation tools for event-driven financial markets.
Industry analysts say this could accelerate participation from retail traders seeking exposure to prediction markets and automated crypto trading systems.
Growing Competition in Prediction Markets
The acquisition comes during a period of rapid expansion for prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi.
Prediction markets have gained traction over the past two years as traders increasingly use them to speculate on elections, macroeconomic events, sports outcomes and crypto-related developments. Trading activity has also expanded beyond simple directional bets into more sophisticated cross-platform and event-driven strategies.
However, the infrastructure supporting those strategies remains fragmented. Traders often rely on multiple dashboards, APIs, bots and liquidity tools to manage positions effectively. MoonPay appears to be positioning Dawn Labs as part of a broader effort to address that infrastructure gap.
Dawn Labs had been developing systems related to persistent AI environments, virtual file systems, memory management and fast tool-calling architectures for financial AI applications. MoonPay also said the trading infrastructure uses a non-custodial wallet structure tied to its Open Wallet Standard initiative, allowing users to retain control of their assets instead of transferring custody to AI agents or third-party systems.
MoonPay Expands Beyond Payments
Founded in 2019, MoonPay initially built its business around crypto on-ramp and off-ramp services, helping users move between fiat currencies and digital assets. In recent years, however, the company has expanded into broader infrastructure products tied to stablecoins, programmable wallets and AI-assisted financial services. The Dawn Labs acquisition continues that shift.
Neeraj P., founder of Dawn Labs, will join MoonPay as chief engineer of MoonPay Labs. Before launching Dawn Labs, he worked at Waymo, Microsoft, Citadel and Reservoir Labs in engineering and machine learning roles.
The company said the Dawn team will contribute to MoonPay’s AI-native infrastructure initiatives, which include developer tooling, wallet infrastructure and systems for autonomous financial agents. Recent company statements have framed those initiatives around four business areas: fundraising, tokenization, trading and spending, with Dawn CLI positioned as a core part of MoonPay’s AI-driven trading strategy.
AI Finance Sector Continues Drawing Investment
The acquisition also highlights continued investor and corporate interest in AI-focused crypto infrastructure despite slower overall venture funding activity in the digital asset sector. At the same time, regulatory uncertainty continues to shape the outlook for prediction market operators, especially in the United States, where debate surrounding a bipartisan bill to ban sports betting on prediction markets has intensified scrutiny of event-driven trading platforms.
Over the past year, startups building AI agents, automated trading systems and decentralized finance infrastructure have continued attracting capital as firms compete to develop software capable of handling increasingly complex financial operations autonomously.
At the same time, the rapid growth of AI-driven trading tools has raised regulatory and operational concerns around market manipulation, execution transparency and compliance oversight. MoonPay said it has introduced trade limit controls and policy restrictions designed to reduce the risk of unintended or excessive automated trading activity by AI agents.
MoonPay kept undisclosed whether Dawn CLI currently supports additional trading venues or plans to expand into regulated financial markets. The company has also accelerated its broader AI infrastructure push in recent months through products such as MoonAgents Card, a stablecoin-linked virtual payment card for AI agents, and its acquisition of key management startup Sodot.
Still, the acquisition signals that crypto infrastructure companies increasingly view AI-powered trading and autonomous financial systems as a major long-term growth area within digital assets.
