MoonPay targets $8.7B trading venue, but the features remain unrevealed

MoonPay has signed a definitive agreement to buy North Capital Investment Technology, a deal that would bring an existing private-securities trading venue into the crypto payments company's group if it closes.

The companies announced the agreement on Sept. 23, and said both boards had approved it. Regulatory approvals and other closing conditions still stand between the agreement and a completed acquisition.

For MoonPay customers, the announcement changes nothing about stated access to private-securities trading. It gives no launch date, eligibility rules, or path into the venue.

The question for customers is whether MoonPay will eventually offer access to North Capital, and under what terms.

What the MoonPay deal would bring

North Capital supplies technology and regulated services to private securities issuers, professional intermediaries, fund managers and investors. Its business spans investor onboarding, transaction processing, custody and secondary trading.

The subsidiary North Capital Private Securities Corporation is a registered broker-dealer and, according to the company's announcement, operates PPEX, an alternative trading system where eligible securities can trade outside a traditional stock exchange.

The SEC's June 30 ATS list named the firm and PPEX before this proposed acquisition.

The deal would add an operating securities venue and brokerage business to MoonPay's existing infrastructure for moving money between conventional and digital assets. North Capital also has an investment-advisory business.

The companies have yet to describe a MoonPay customer-facing securities product. The regulated entities, trading system and customer interface are distinct pieces of that potential offering, and the announcement describes the first two as existing North Capital capabilities.

The deal announcement calls for North Capital to become a wholly owned MoonPay subsidiary upon completion. Until then, its businesses remain the target of a proposed transaction. The companies did not disclose the purchase price or provide a firm closing date.

The key near-term milestone is regulatory clearance and merger completion. MoonPay and North Capital said the transaction also depends on other customary conditions and cautioned that there is no assurance it will close, or when.

Even after a close, customers would need a separate announcement explaining what securities could be offered, through which entity, to whom and when.

PPEX shows what MoonPay may add to its platform if the deal succeeds: infrastructure for secondary trading in private and other exempt securities, including tokenized securities.

The announcement describes existing capability and a plan to combine businesses. MoonPay user access remains a prospective step, with no announced terms.