MoonPay is expanding deeper into onchain trading with the acquisition of Rhythm, a platform built to help traders find opportunities, execute transactions and manage risk across fast-moving crypto markets.

The deal brings Rhythm's technology and its three co-founders — Joseph Murphy, James Miller and Lincoln Barnett III — into MoonPay.

The acquisition also closes a loop that began last year: Rhythm was the first company backed by MoonPay Labs in 2025, giving MoonPay an early look at the platform before ultimately deciding to bring the team and technology in-house.

For MoonPay, the deal adds another piece to a business that has expanded well beyond its original role helping users buy and sell crypto with fiat. The company now operates across payments, trading, stablecoins and onchain infrastructure, serving more than 30 million customers in 180 countries and over 1,500 enterprise clients.

From Trading Signals to Execution

Rhythm was built around a persistent problem in onchain markets: traders often need multiple tools to discover assets, analyze opportunities, execute trades and manage risk. By combining those functions in one platform, it aims to reduce the need to move between separate products while trading. The platform provides trading signals alongside automation, execution and risk-management tools.

That technology now becomes part of MoonPay's growing trading infrastructure. The acquisition also brings a team with experience building high-frequency DeFi trading systems and other transaction-heavy software, which fits a market where trading workflows increasingly overlap with broader onchain activity.

Rhythm Chief Product Officer Joseph Murphy previously co-founded Minty Finance, where he helped build high-frequency DeFi trading software responsible for more than $7 million in executed trades. Before that, Murphy founded Mirage Software, an automated checkout technology company that facilitated more than $50 million in customer spending.

Rhythm CEO Lincoln Barnett III has been active in DeFi trading while working with startups across fundraising, go-to-market strategy, partnerships, operations and growth. At Rhythm, he led the company's strategy and development around trading discovery, automation, risk management and execution.

CTO James Miller brings a technical background spanning fintech, cloud infrastructure and trading systems. He previously worked as a full-stack engineer at Spendesk and co-founded Minty Finance alongside Murphy, while earlier roles covered multi-region AWS infrastructure and consumer software.

MoonPay's move also reflects how payments companies are broadening into adjacent crypto services as users expect more functionality in one place. Earlier this month, the company expanded PayBox, its payment vault built for AI, by integrating Solana lending protocol Kamino. That integration allows eligible users to prepare lending and borrowing transactions through conversations with ChatGPT and Claude.

Rhythm adds onchain trading to that expansion, bringing discovery, automation and risk management into MoonPay's ecosystem of more than 30 million customers globally.

Source: CryptoNewsNet