According to an announcement posted on its official account on October 6th, MoonPay, a cryptocurrency payment infrastructure company, has revealed a new feature in its app that allows users to swap one cryptocurrency for another.
According to the announcement, this new feature will expand the functionality of MoonPay’s retail cryptocurrency app, enabling users to purchase cryptocurrencies and manage multiple wallets within the app.
MoonPay claims that the swapping feature has been optimized for efficiency. Instead of relying on smart contracts, which can be costly due to their complex operations, MoonPay executes swaps through two transactions: one for depositing funds and one for sending the quoted amount.
This approach helps reduce the amount of gas needed for the swap, making the process more streamlined and cost-effective, as explained by Ivan Soto-Wright, co-founder and CEO of MoonPay.
With a confirmed customer base of 16 million users worldwide, MoonPay has expanded its business operations beyond its core payment infrastructure model.
In addition to its app and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), MoonPay launched a venture arm in August, aiming to invest in early-stage web3 and fintech startups.
Furthermore, the company completed its first acquisition earlier this year, acquiring web3 creative agency Nightshift to support brands in delivering web3 features.
However, MoonPay has faced legal challenges in the past. In December 2022, the company was hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging its involvement in a scheme with Yuga Labs, the creators of Bored Ape NFTs, and some celebrities to artificially inflate the value of NFTs.
Additionally, in June 2023, there were allegations that MoonPay had gifted valuable Bored Ape NFTs to celebrities as part of an advertising strategy. The company promptly denied the claims but did not provide further details to substantiate its innocence.