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 in search of a $5 billion valuation. An individual aware of the spherical reportedly mentioned the talks have been personal, which is why he didn’t need his identify printed.
This reveals how ICE continues to increase additional into the cryptocurrency house as political assist for the business will increase underneath President Donald Trump’s administration.
Wall Avenue has been vocal about digital property this yr. Again in October, ICE agreed to speculate as much as $2 billion in Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction market platform that permits folks to wager on real-world occasions.
MoonPay expands operations and staffing whereas selling funding
MoonPay began in 2019 and constructed software program that permits customers to maneuver between common cash and cryptocurrencies with out stress.
The corporate’s final funding spherical passed off on the finish of 2021, when the bull market was nonetheless sturdy, and the spherical valued the corporate at $3.4 billion. MoonPay has moved rapidly this yr, spending cash to amass a minimum of 4 startups to increase 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, appearing chair of the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee, will be part of MoonPay as chief authorized officer. MoonPay mentioned in an X assertion that Pham will “lead the following chapter of progress and compliance excellence after he concludes his function as appearing chairman.”
She was quickly chosen by President Trump to chair the CFTC in January. The corporate mentioned 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 mentioned he supposed to return to the personal sector if confirmed as everlasting chair.
President Trump has nominated Michael Selig for the function, however the Senate has not but voted. Lawmakers may vote Thursday earlier than leaving Washington for trip.
Crypto sector attracts new capital as corporations search transparency from Washington
Since Pham turned appearing chairman, the CFTC has seen elevated exercise in prediction markets, taken steps to deliver offshore crypto corporations again to the USA, and even carried out what it calls an “enforcement dash” on corporations the CFTC has in its sights.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain corporations have already raised about $19 billion in 2025, the best quantity since 2022, in keeping with PitchBook figures.
Ripple additionally raised $500 million at a valuation of $40 billion in early November. Traders included funds related to Fortress Funding Group and Citadel Securities.
Ripple President Monica Lengthy mentioned the corporate is seeing sturdy demand for stablecoin funds, including, “Given this momentum, the entire business is absolutely open to and narrowing their eyes on stablecoin funds. This has been on the coronary heart of our technique all alongside,” including that Ripple has doubled its buyer base on this house quarter-over-quarter.
Ripple needs to be an infrastructure companion for establishments transferring to cryptocurrencies. Curiosity from these corporations has elevated through the Trump administration’s second time period as regulation shrinks and the White Home pivots to assist digital property.
Trump has already signed the primary federal laws on stablecoins. Corporations like Coinbase and Ripple are at the moment discovering methods to ascertain themselves because the main crypto-native companions of monetary establishments coming into the market.
