MoonPay Expands Fiat-to-Stablecoin Virtual Accounts to New York, Targeting Institutional Flow
MoonPay expands its virtual accounts product to New York, enabling businesses to convert fiat to stablecoins and settle funds directly, leveraging its NYDFS licenses and targeting
MoonPay Brings Fiat-to-Stablecoin Rails to New York Institutions
MoonPay, a prominent crypto payments infrastructure provider, has officially launched its virtual accounts product in New York, marking a significant expansion into one of the world's most tightly regulated financial hubs. This strategic move allows businesses operating in the Empire State to convert traditional fiat currency into stablecoins and settle funds directly to non-custodial wallets, all without the need for prefunding across various jurisdictions.
The core of this offering lies in its ability to bridge conventional banking rails, such as ACH and SWIFT, with blockchain-based infrastructure through a single API. Businesses can now receive incoming fiat funds and have them automatically converted into stablecoins, facilitating streamlined payment, trading, and treasury management flows. This eliminates the operational complexities and capital inefficiencies associated with maintaining prefunded balances or navigating multiple intermediaries.
Regulatory Foothold in a Key Market
Operating in New York requires navigating a rigorous regulatory landscape. MoonPay secured a BitLicense, money transmitter licenses, and a New York limited purpose trust charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) in 2025, paving the way for this expansion. This regulatory approval underscores MoonPay's commitment to compliance and positions it to serve institutional clients who demand the highest operational standards.
Max von Wallenberg, CEO of Iron – the technology provider acquired by MoonPay in 2025 and underpinning this product – emphasized the strategic importance of this launch. "New York is the center of global finance — where the largest banks, asset managers and enterprises operate," von Wallenberg stated. "Being able to operate here signals we meet the highest regulatory and operational standards." He noted that demand for this product in other regions has been driven by enterprise use cases including payroll, treasury management, cross-border payments, and tokenized real-world asset (RWA) issuers requiring efficient fiat-to-stablecoin settlement.
Broader Stablecoin Integration Trends
MoonPay's expansion comes amidst a growing trend of major payment companies and fintechs integrating stablecoins into their core infrastructure. This broader industry shift aims to enhance the efficiency of cross-border transactions and reduce the reliance on traditional, often cumbersome, prefunded accounts.
For instance, Singaporean fintech Nium recently integrated USDC payments via Coinbase, enabling businesses to send, receive, and convert stablecoins to fiat across over 190 countries. This setup allows companies to fund cross-border payouts on demand using stablecoins, settling in either digital assets or local currencies, thereby streamlining global payment flows and reducing the need for prefunding in multiple jurisdictions.
Card networks are also actively expanding their stablecoin-linked payment capabilities. Visa, in partnership with Stripe-owned Bridge, rolled out stablecoin-linked cards across more than 100 countries and is actively testing on-chain settlement. As of December 2025, Visa's annualized stablecoin settlement run rate had already reached an impressive $4.6 billion. Similarly, Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK, valued at up to $1.8 billion, aims to bolster its ability to connect traditional payment rails with blockchain-based transactions, supporting use cases like cross-border payments and business payouts.
With the total stablecoin market capitalization standing at approximately $320 billion, according to DefiLlama, these integrations highlight the increasing recognition of stablecoins as a critical component of the modern financial ecosystem, offering speed, efficiency, and programmability that traditional systems often lack.
Key points: MoonPay's launch of fiat-to-stablecoin virtual accounts in New York enables businesses to convert fiat to stablecoins and settle funds directly without prefunding, streamlining operations. • The expansion is underpinned by MoonPay's BitLicense and trust charter from the NYDFS, signaling its compliance and ability to serve institutional clients in a highly regulated market. • This move reflects a broader industry trend where major payment players like Visa, Mastercard, and Nium are increasingly integrating stablecoins for efficient cross-border payments and treasury management. • The offering aims to connect traditional banking rails with blockchain infrastructure, facilitating faster settlement, programmable payments, and reducing reliance on multiple intermediaries.
