NYSE Owner ICE Discussing Investment in MoonPay at $5B Valuation

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, is reportedly negotiating an investment in crypto payments infrastructure firm MoonPay. According to Bloomberg, the deal targets a valuation of approximately $5 billion. A significant markup from the company’s $3.4 billion tag during the 2021 bull run.

The capital injection would signal a strategic shift for MoonPay, moving it further from its retail-focused "on-ramp" origins toward institutional-grade settlement infrastructure. For ICE, which previously founded digital asset platform Bakkt, the move represents a renewed bet on the plumbing of crypto markets rather than the assets themselves.

The Infrastructure Pivot

The talks follow MoonPay’s aggressive expansion into enterprise services. In November 2025, the company launched a stablecoin issuance arm, integrating with M0 protocols to allow businesses to mint compliant, fully reserved digital dollars. This pivots the firm directly into competition with infrastructure heavyweights like Paxos.

"By combining open, verifiable technology with MoonPay’s trusted infrastructure, we’re making stablecoin issuance instant and accessible to every business on the planet," stated CEO Ivan Soto-Wright during the November launch.

Evidence of this strategy materialized quickly. On December 16, self-custody wallet Exodus announced it would utilize MoonPay’s rails to issue a USD-backed stablecoin, aiming for an early 2026 rollout.

Institutional Context

A $5 billion valuation in the current climate defies the flat rounds seen elsewhere in late-stage fintech. The premium likely stems from MoonPay’s recent consolidation of the payments stack, bolstered by the acquisitions of Iron and Helio. By controlling both the user-facing checkout and the backend issuance layers, MoonPay offers traditional finance entities like ICE a singular entry point into on-chain settlement.

Neither ICE nor MoonPay has publicly commented on the status of the negotiations.