MoonPay has acquired Glide, a Y Combinator-backed startup focused on crypto deposits, in an all-equity deal. The move marks the latest in a string of acquisitions by the crypto payments company as it builds out what it hopes will become the definitive infrastructure layer for moving money into and out of digital assets.

The acquisition playbook

Glide’s specialty is crypto deposits infrastructure, the plumbing that helps users and businesses move fiat currency into crypto wallets. By folding Glide into its stack, MoonPay gains deeper capabilities in bank and fiat integrations.

MoonPay has made all-equity deals its preferred acquisition currency. The company previously acquired Israeli cryptography firm Sodot for $100M in equity and Solana payments company Helio for $175M, also in equity. The logic is straightforward: preserve cash, align the acquired team’s incentives with MoonPay’s long-term success.

Building the everything-payments layer

MoonPay was founded in 2019 by Ivan Soto-Wright, Victor Faramond, and Maximilian Crown. Since 2024, MoonPay has been executing a multi-deal acquisition strategy targeting three specific verticals: security, stablecoin infrastructure, and payments. The Sodot acquisition brought cryptographic key management technology. Helio added Solana-native payment processing. Now Glide fills in the deposits piece.

That ambition puts MoonPay in direct competition with some formidable players. Circle, the issuer of USDC, has been aggressively expanding its own payments and infrastructure services. Visa has been quietly building crypto settlement capabilities.

What this means for the broader market

MoonPay’s push into stablecoin infrastructure, combined with enhanced deposits capabilities from Glide, positions the company to benefit from the growing institutional adoption of stablecoins for cross-border payments and treasury management.