MoonPay Acquires Helio in $175M Deal to Enhance Crypto Payments Solutions

Highlights:

• MoonPay acquires Helio for $175 million, its largest deal to date.
• The acquisition strengthens crypto payments in e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Discord.
• MoonPay aims to deliver scalable, decentralized payment solutions using Helio’s technology.

MoonPay, a crypto payment solution provider, revealed that it has bought Helio, a blockchain payment processor, for $175 million. The report stated that the acquisition is MoonPay’s biggest acquisition so far.

With the help of Helio’s technology, MoonPay will try to improve its payment infrastructure and become one of the market leaders in offering efficient and secure payment solutions that are also based on blockchain.

Helio, which is a Solana-based platform, offers the possibility of making payments with traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins. It has helped more than 6,000 merchants and has facilitated transaction volume of more than $1.5 billion. Its platform works well with some of the most used e-commerce platforms, like Shopify and Discord, which enables users to conduct transactions in cryptocurrencies and exchange them for regular money.

MoonPay’s CEO, Ivan Soto-Wright, said the acquisition would enhance the company’s capacity to support the crypto commerce and trading infrastructure. According to Helio’s CEO, Stijn Paumen, integrating with MoonPay would help speed up the process of making crypto payments simple and inexpensive.

breaking news: we’ve acquired @helio_pay pic.twitter.com/k3Nw9XfvOo

— MoonPay 🟣 (@moonpay) January 13, 2025

MoonPay Expands Its Reach with Strategic Acquisition of Helio

This follows MoonPay’s growth and new partnerships in the past few months. MoonPay has partnered with PayPal and Venmo to allow users to purchase crypto using these payment services. It also introduced MoonPay Balance, which is a Fiat to Crypto service available in 27 countries.

This means that with Helio’s technology, MoonPay can now offer a much more complete product for on-chain payments. The acquisition will help MoonPay optimize the transaction process for e-commerce, digital products, and subscriptions. The integration of Helio with Solana Pay on Shopify helps businesses by giving them the best payment method with low charges.

MoonPay has also improved its compliance with the regulations. It has recently received Money Transmitter licenses in 16 U.S. states and received EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) approval. These steps show the compliance of MoonPay with international business standards.

📣 Regulatory Announcement 📣

MoonPay has secured Money Transmitter licenses in 16 U.S. states! 🇺🇸 🎉

Further proof of our commitment to meet compliance standards wherever we operate. ✅

Details here 👉 https://t.co/wvd7EOK1q7 pic.twitter.com/HAM2s07tcD

— MoonPay 🟣 (@moonpay) July 21, 2021

Implications for the Crypto Industry

MoonPay acquiring Helio illustrates Decentralized Finance’s (DeFi) increasing penetration into the conventional payment sector. The companies plan to use blockchain technology in order to eliminate conventional slow and expensive payment procedures with quicker and cheaper ones. This deal should help increase the use of cryptocurrencies in e-commerce and also increase MoonPay’s trading and marketplace volumes.

The industry expects more consolidation in the wake of the Trump administration’s friendly sentiments toward cryptocurrencies. For the record, US crypto companies have not had it easy with regard to regulation, which forced many of them to go offshore. As the sector is expected to experience less regulation, it may experience increased expansion and merger and acquisition.

MoonPay’s acquisition of Helio reveals the current trend of the adoption of cryptocurrencies in conventional commercial activities. This is particularly due to the integration of Helio’s merchant tools and MoonPay’s existing user base, which is now ready to advance the use of digital assets in everyday purchasing activities.