MoonPay Acquires Decent as It Expands Institutional Crypto Infrastructure With MoonPay Trade

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Crypto payments company MoonPay has acquired cross-chain infrastructure startup Decent and launched a new institutional platform called MoonPay Trade, marking the firm’s latest push beyond retail crypto payments into broader blockchain infrastructure services.

The acquisition, announced on May 21, 2026, is believed to be an eight-figure transaction. The deal represents at least MoonPay’s fourth acquisition in 2026 as the company accelerates efforts to build a vertically integrated infrastructure stack for institutional digital asset activity.

MoonPay Trade is designed as a unified API that allows institutions, fintech applications, and enterprises to execute blockchain transactions, move liquidity, convert assets, and settle payments across more than 200 blockchains and protocols. The platform also supports transactions involving over 120 fiat currencies. The launch reflects growing institutional demand for simplified access to fragmented onchain markets, particularly as financial firms expand tokenization and stablecoin initiatives.

Acquisition expands MoonPay’s infrastructure capabilities

Founded in 2021, Decent initially operated in the NFT sector before pivoting toward cross-chain transaction routing and liquidity aggregation infrastructure. The startup developed routing algorithms and bridge systems aimed at simplifying asset transfers between blockchain networks.

MoonPay said Decent’s technology will serve as a core component of MoonPay Trade’s execution engine. The platform combines Decent’s routing infrastructure with MoonPay’s existing fiat payment rails, compliance systems, and crypto on-and-off ramp services. The company stated that the product is intended to reduce the engineering complexity institutions face when connecting to multiple blockchain ecosystems independently.

Key capabilities of MoonPay Trade include:

• Cross-chain routing and transaction execution
• Asset conversion and settlement across networks
• Fiat-to-crypto payment infrastructure
• Compliance, reporting, and KYC/AML integration
• Native movement of collateral between permissioned and public blockchains

MoonPay said the platform will also support its institutional division, MoonPay Institutional, which launched earlier this year to target regulated financial firms exploring tokenized assets and blockchain-based settlement systems.

MoonPay broadens strategy beyond crypto payments

MoonPay built its business primarily around fiat-to-crypto payment infrastructure, allowing users to purchase digital assets through debit cards, bank transfers, and payment applications. Over the past two years, however, the company has expanded aggressively into backend crypto infrastructure services.

The Decent acquisition follows several recent deals by MoonPay, including purchases of Solana-focused trading infrastructure firm DFlow, AI trading startup Dawn, and crypto key-management company Sodot. In 2025, the company also acquired infrastructure providers Meso, Iron, and Helio.

The acquisition strategy suggests MoonPay is attempting to position itself as a full-stack provider of institutional blockchain infrastructure rather than remaining solely a retail payments company. Industry analysts have increasingly pointed to infrastructure consolidation as a defining trend in the crypto sector during 2026, particularly as institutional adoption grows and firms compete to provide end-to-end services for tokenized finance.

Institutional competition intensifies across crypto infrastructure

MoonPay’s latest move comes as traditional financial firms and crypto companies race to develop infrastructure for tokenized assets, stablecoin payments, and cross-chain settlement systems.

Large financial institutions including banks and asset managers have expanded pilot programs involving tokenized treasury products, blockchain-based collateral management, and real-time settlement systems over the past year. That shift has increased demand for infrastructure capable of operating across multiple blockchain ecosystems while maintaining regulatory compliance.

The broader market has also seen increased merger activity among infrastructure providers. Earlier this week, crypto infrastructure company Blocknative announced its integration into Deloitte, highlighting growing interest from traditional enterprise firms in blockchain infrastructure capabilities.

FAQs

1. What is MoonPay Trade?
MoonPay Trade is a unified API platform that enables institutions and enterprises to execute blockchain transactions, move liquidity, convert assets, and settle payments across more than 200 blockchain networks and protocols.

2. Why did MoonPay acquire Decent?
MoonPay acquired Decent to integrate its cross-chain routing algorithms, bridge infrastructure, and liquidity aggregation technology into MoonPay Trade.

3. How does this change MoonPay’s business model?
The company is expanding beyond retail crypto payment services into institutional blockchain infrastructure, including settlement, liquidity routing, compliance systems, and tokenization support.

4. Why are crypto infrastructure acquisitions increasing?
As institutional adoption of blockchain technology grows, companies are consolidating infrastructure services to provide integrated solutions for payments, tokenization, settlement, and cross-chain asset movement.