ICE Eyes MoonPay Stake as Crypto Gateway Targets $5 Billion Valuation Pre-IPO

Wall Street's old guard is placing another bet on crypto's infrastructure.

The Institutional On-Ramp

Intercontinental Exchange—the powerhouse behind the New York Stock Exchange—is reportedly in talks to invest in MoonPay. The move signals a deepening institutional embrace of the pipes and plumbing that make digital asset ownership possible for the masses. It's not about the coins themselves; it's about controlling the toll booth.

The Pre-IPO Price Tag

The discussions come as MoonPay aims for a staggering $5 billion valuation ahead of a potential public offering. That figure will raise eyebrows—a classic finance maneuver where future hype gets priced in today, often leaving later investors to foot the bill for the optimism.

Building Bridges, Not Islands

For ICE, this isn't a speculative punt. It's a strategic acquisition of a critical gateway. MoonPay's fiat-to-crypto rails serve as a direct bridge between traditional finance and the digital asset ecosystem. Control the bridge, and you control the flow—and the fees.

The playbook is clear: institutional money is no longer just dipping a toe in the asset class. It's buying the entire beach, the concession stand, and the parking lot. The real money in a gold rush isn't in finding gold—it's in selling the shovels and maps. Sometimes, the most cynical take is just the accurate one.

MoonPay expands operations and staffing during funding push

MoonPay started in 2019 and built software that lets users MOVE between regular money and crypto without stress.

The company’s last raise happened in late 2021, when the bull market was still strong, and that round priced the firm at $3.4 billion. MoonPay has been moving quickly this year, spending money to buy at least four startups and rolling out a stablecoin business.

All of that came as Congress passed new stablecoin legislation in July, opening the door for wider use of dollar-pegged tokens across the country.

The company also announced a major hire on Wednesday. Caroline Pham, the acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will join MoonPay as chief legal officer. MoonPay said on X that Pham will “guide our next chapter of growth + compliance excellence following the conclusion of her role as Acting Chairman.”

She had been chosen by TRUMP in January to temporarily run the CFTC. The company said her new job comes as it continues building tools that let users convert US dollars and other currencies into digital assets.

A CFTC spokesperson, when asked about Pham’s next steps, pointed back to her earlier comments, saying she planned to return to the private sector once a permanent chairman was approved.

Trump picked Michael Selig for that role, but the Senate has not voted yet. Lawmakers could vote Thursday before leaving Washington for the holiday break.

Crypto sector attracts new capital as firms seek Washington clarity

Since Pham stepped in as acting chairman, the CFTC has seen more activity in prediction markets, taken steps to bring offshore crypto firms back into the US, and even carried out what it described as an “enforcement sprint” toward firms in its sights.

Crypto and blockchain companies have already raised almost $19 billion in 2025, the highest since 2022, according to PitchBook numbers.

Ripple also pulled in $500 million in early November at a $40 billion valuation. Investors included funds linked to Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities.

Ripple President Monica Long said the company is seeing strong demand for stablecoin payments and added, “Given the momentum, the overall industry is really opening up to and glomming onto stablecoin payments, which has been Core to our strategy all along,” before noting that the firm doubled customers in that line of business quarter over quarter.

Ripple wants to be the infrastructure partner for institutions moving into crypto. Interest from those firms has grown under Trump’s second term as regulation scaled back and the WHITE House shifted toward support for digital assets.

Trump already signed the first federal rules for stablecoins. Companies such as Coinbase and Ripple now see a path to present themselves as the main crypto-native partners for institutions entering the market.

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