The news
On September 23, 2026, crypto payments company MoonPay said it signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire North Capital Investment Technology, a private-markets infrastructure platform whose SEC-registered brokerage, trading and transfer agent businesses would become part of MoonPay once the deal closes.
North Capital combines API-based software with regulated brokerage services. It supports capital raising, asset management, clearing, custody and secondary trading for exempt securities, meaning those sold under exemptions from full SEC registration, including tokenized securities, according to MoonPay's announcement.
Its tools include investor onboarding, transaction processing, subscription escrow and PPEX ATS, a registered alternative trading system, which is a trading venue regulated as a broker-dealer rather than as a stock exchange. MoonPay said the platform has supported more than $8.7 billion in primary and secondary transaction volume and that PPEX lists more than 1,250 approved assets for secondary trading.
After closing, North Capital will become a wholly owned MoonPay subsidiary, bringing its SEC-registered broker-dealers, alternative trading system, transfer agent and investment adviser. The boards of both companies unanimously approved the deal, which still needs regulatory approvals. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Ivan Soto-Wright, MoonPay's CEO and founder, said the company is "building the regulatory foundation to support mass adoption of tokenized real world assets." James P. Dowd, North Capital's founder and CEO, said the combination would let the firms merge teams while continuing to serve existing clients and partners.
This Week in Fintech listed the transaction among the week's fintech acquisitions in its September 27 roundup, noting that it adds North Capital's securities brokerage and investment advisory businesses to MoonPay's digital-asset platform.
The numbers
- Transaction volume supported by North Capital
- More than $8.7 billion
- Assets approved for secondary trading on PPEX
- More than 1,250
- Deal value
- Not disclosed
Why CEOs should care
For CFOs and founders raising private capital, the deal points to a single platform where a company could raise money, issue tokenized shares and let investors trade them later. If you are weighing a tokenized offering, ask how investor eligibility is checked, which exemption the offering relies on, who acts as transfer agent and what secondary liquidity really looks like on venues such as PPEX.
For fund managers and wealth platforms, MoonPay's move shows one crypto company choosing to buy registered securities businesses rather than build them. When evaluating partners for tokenized products, confirm which entity holds each registration, how customer assets are custodied and how the business would operate if a regulator rejected the change of control.
For banks and incumbent broker-dealers, MoonPay's deal shows a crypto-native competitor assembling the same regulatory stack. Product leaders should compare their private-markets and tokenization road maps with crypto platforms that, if deals like this one close, could offer registered securities services next to their existing crypto products. Relationship managers should also expect clients to ask whether tokenized versions of private assets can be held alongside their existing accounts.
The bigger picture
The deal follows a run of SEC moves on tokenization. On September 1, 2026, the SEC proposed updating its transfer agent rules, with Chairman Paul Atkins citing the use of blockchain technology in securities offerings and share transfers. On September 17, the agency granted temporary, conditional relief, which it called the Innovation Exemption, allowing what it terms Tokenized Securities Venues to trade tokenized versions of listed NMS stocks through permissioned automated market maker liquidity pools, with limits on the number of symbols and trading volume. In August, the SEC proposed a rule package called Regulation Crypto Assets. The Innovation Exemption covers listed stocks rather than the exempt private securities North Capital handles, but the transfer agent proposal applies to the kind of registered transfer agent MoonPay would own once the deal closes.
MoonPay has presented the purchase as a way to take on licensed private-markets infrastructure outright instead of developing it in-house. The company argued in its announcement that private markets and blockchain networks remain poorly connected even as tokenization of real-world assets grows. Acquiring a firm that already holds the SEC registrations, rather than applying for each one, is the route MoonPay chose, though the deal still depends on regulatory approvals to close.
What’s next
Watch for the regulatory approvals the companies say are required before closing, and for MoonPay's first tokenized offerings or secondary trading through PPEX. The SEC's final transfer agent rules will also matter, since North Capital's registered transfer agent would become part of the combined business.
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