The 2022 CNBC Disruptors are 50 private companies growing and innovating through a challenging market and changed world, while inspiring change in their larger, incumbent competitors.
Disruptor 50 2022

44. MoonPay

CNBC.com staff@CNBC
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Founder: Ivan Soto-Wright (CEO), Victor Faramond
Launched: 2018
Headquarters: Miami
Funding: $555 million
Valuation: $3.4 billion
Key technologies: Blockchain, decentralized finance (DeFi), Internet of Things
Industry: Fintech
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 0

Persephone Kavallines

Founded in 2018, Miami-based MoonPay's software lets users buy and sell cryptocurrencies using conventional payment methods like credit cards, bank transfers, or mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. It also sells its technology to other businesses including crypto website Bitcoin.com and non-fungible token marketplace OpenSea, a model CEO Ivan Soto-Wright calls "crypto-as-a-service."

Soto-Wright said the firm aims to make crypto accessible to the masses in the same way that video-conferencing tools like Zoom made it easier to make calls over the internet.

MoonPay's pitch to investors is that it offers a "gateway" to digital assets. For now, that includes bitcoin, ether and other digital tokens like NFTs. The recent market volatility and risk-off investor environment hasn't been kind to crypto trading, but Soto-Wright's vision is to expand the platform to include everything from digital fashion to tokenized stocks.

The company says it has been profitable since launching its platform in 2019. Its service is now used by more than 10 million customers in 160 countries. Last month, MoonPay added more than 60 celebrity investors to its balance sheet, including Justin Bieber, Gwyneth Paltrow, Snoop Dogg and Ashton Kutcher, among others. Combined, its new investors poured $87 million into a previously announced $555 million funding round led by Tiger Global and Coatue, valuing the company at $3.4 billion.

Looking ahead, MoonPay plans to spend the money raised on new products and expansion. Soto-Wright says the firm already has ambitions to take the business public. "We have aspirations eventually to be a public company," he previously told CNBC.

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