MoonPay drives Crypto Spending with a Self-Custody Solution through a new offering

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The crypto infrastructure company MoonPay is taking steps to enhance self-custody spending by introducing a new payment solution that enables users to store and spend fiat balances.

MoonPay Balance will support deposits and withdrawals in euros and pounds, with serious plans to expand to the U.S.

On November 13, MoonPay officially unveiled MoonPay Balance, a new payment tool that allows users to hold and spend fiat balances directly within MoonPay, serving as a gateway for engaging with decentralized finance (DeFi).

This new solution enables users to spend their balances through direct integration with self-custody wallets such as MetaMask, Phantom, and Bitcoin.com.

At launch, MoonPay Balance will be available in the U.K. and most European countries except Germany.

The complete list of supported jurisdictions spans 27 countries, including the UK, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

The new payment solution supports various payment methods, including SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area), Faster Payments, and Open Banking. MoonPay is actively working to expand payment options, with ACH soon to be available for U.S. users.

Although users cannot top up their balances directly with cryptocurrencies, they can exchange their crypto for euros or British pounds and use those funds to replenish their MoonPay balance, the representative noted.

MoonPay also announced that it won't charge fees for deposits, withdrawals, buying, or selling. However, their partners "may apply ecosystem fees depending on the specific transaction or service."

With the launch of MoonPay Balance, MoonPay has taken a significant step towards advancing self-custody adoption. This one is a method for storing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin independently of any third-party entity and leaving full control to the owner.

"In the future, users can expect their non-custodial crypto wallets to function as their primary bank accounts," stated MoonPay co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright.

He highlighted that MoonPay Balance addresses a crucial gap in the decentralized ecosystem, providing users with the freedom to manage their cryptocurrencies within non-custodial wallets, adding: "At MoonPay, we believe users should have full control over their digital assets while enjoying an experience that matches or surpasses the standards set by traditional fintech apps."

MoonPay's latest spending solution follows a series of partnerships with major traditional financial firms like PayPal. In July 2024, MoonPay integrated PayPal fiat on-ramps for customers in the European Union and the U.K. Previously, in May 2024, MoonPay enabled a similar PayPal feature for U.S. users.