MoonPay on May 21, 2026 unveiled MoonPay Trade, a single-API platform giving regulated financial institutions direct access to tokenized real-world assets, DeFi lending protocols, and stablecoin liquidity across more than 200 blockchains — a move that positions the crypto payments firm as infrastructure for the TradFi tokenization wave rather than just a retail on-ramp.

The platform is built on Decent.xyz, a Y Combinator-backed cross-chain routing startup MoonPay acquired for a "high eight-figure" sum, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by CoinDesk. Founded in 2021, Decent built proprietary bridge infrastructure and routing algorithms that optimize execution across Ethereum, Solana, Base, Hyperliquid, and Bitcoin. MoonPay Trade pairs that routing layer with support for more than 120 fiat currencies, wiring traditional payment rails to on-chain settlement.

What the platform does

For institutions, the integration problem has been the barrier. Cross-chain execution, compliance infrastructure, collateral movement, and tokenized fund subscriptions each require separate plumbing. MoonPay Trade collapses them to a single API call.

Specifically, the platform supports tokenized fund subscriptions — letting institutions buy into tokenized funds and structured products directly on-chain using stablecoins as settlement rails — as well as collateral transfers across chains and venues. It integrates natively with DeFi lending protocols including Morpho, Aave, and Maple Finance, allowing institutional clients to lend, borrow, and generate yield on-chain without managing raw wallets. Sodot's multi-party computation (MPC) technology, acquired by MoonPay earlier this year for a reported $100 million in stock, handles key management and automates complex on-chain workflows without exposing private keys.

MoonPay Trade serves as the execution arm of MoonPay Institutional, the company's dedicated unit for regulated financial firms, asset managers, trading firms, and exchanges. That unit is led by Caroline D. Pham, former acting chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

"Every major financial institution is building a tokenized asset strategy," Pham said in a statement, adding that MoonPay Trade gives institutions access to on-chain markets "with full compliance."

The market gap it's targeting

The timing is deliberate. Tokenized real-world assets — blockchain-based versions of stocks, bonds, and funds — now exceed $33 billion in market value, having tripled in a year, according to RWA.xyz data. Boston Consulting Group projects the market could grow to $18.9 trillion by 2033. BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan have already introduced tokenized funds on public blockchains, while stablecoins increasingly serve as settlement rails for payments and trading.

The problem: most of that capital stays static. Research cited by crypto.news from analyst Tanaka, referenced via Wu Blockchain, estimates only about 10% of tokenized RWA liquidity is currently active in DeFi protocols. Of roughly $7 billion in tokenized gold and commodities on-chain, just $184 million is actually deployed in DeFi. MoonPay is positioning Trade to close that gap — providing the compliance-grade plumbing that lets regulated institutions put tokenized assets to work on-chain rather than holding them passively.

An acquisition-led buildout

MoonPay Trade is not an isolated product launch. It is the latest output of a systematic infrastructure acquisition campaign the company has run over the past 18 months.

Earlier this month, MoonPay acquired DFlow, a Solana-native execution layer that processed more than $12 billion in trading volume in Q1 2026, per the company's own announcement. That acquisition extended MoonPay's reach into non-EVM chains. The Sodot deal, an Israeli crypto security firm acquired in an approximately $100 million all-stock transaction reported by CoinDesk, added the MPC key management underpinning MoonPay Institutional. Meso and Helio, payment processors acquired in 2025, expanded the fiat-to-crypto rail coverage that now feeds into Trade's 120+ currency support.

Decent.xyz is the connective tissue tying it together. Its cross-chain routing algorithms are what allow a single API call from a bank's treasury desk to resolve execution across 200+ chains without the institution needing to map each protocol individually.

Competitive context

MoonPay is entering a contested space. Fireblocks, Circle, Coinbase Prime, and BitGo all compete for institutional DeFi access and tokenized asset custody. What differentiates MoonPay's pitch is the combination of regulatory credibility — Pham's CFTC background is a deliberate signal to compliance-first buyers — and the Decent routing layer, which handles the cross-chain complexity in-protocol rather than routing through intermediary custodians.

The real test is whether regulated institutions treat a single API to 200 chains as sufficient infrastructure to act, or whether they require the deeper custodial relationships that more established players provide. MoonPay's answer is that compliance and on-chain access can be packaged together; the $33 billion RWA market and the 10% DeFi participation rate are the numbers it's betting on to make that pitch land.

MoonPay says it currently serves more than 30 million customers across 180 countries and works with more than 500 enterprise clients. MoonPay Trade is live now.

Sources: CoinDesk · crypto.news · Blockhead · RWA.xyz · BCG via CoinDesk · MoonPay DFlow announcement · MoonPay Sodot acquisition · Wu Blockchain / Tanaka RWA data