MoonPay Acquires Rhythm to Expand Onchain Trading Infrastructure
MoonPay is expanding further into onchain trading through the acquisition of Rhythm, a platform designed to help traders identify 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. It also completes a relationship that began last year, when Rhythm became the first company backed by MoonPay Labs in 2025. That investment gave MoonPay an early view of the platform before the company decided to bring Rhythm’s team and technology in-house.
For MoonPay, the acquisition adds to a business that has grown well beyond its original role of helping users buy and sell cryptocurrency with fiat currency. The company now operates across payments, trading, stablecoins and onchain infrastructure, serving more than 30 million customers in 180 countries and more than 1,500 enterprise clients.
Rhythm Combines Trading Discovery and Execution
Rhythm was built to address a common challenge in onchain markets: traders often rely on multiple tools to discover assets, assess opportunities, execute trades and manage risk. Its platform combines those functions, offering trading signals as well as automation, execution and risk-management tools.
The technology will now become part of MoonPay’s expanding trading infrastructure. The acquisition also adds a team with experience developing high-frequency DeFi trading systems and other software designed to handle large volumes of transactions.
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.
Murphy previously founded Mirage Software, an automated checkout technology company that facilitated more than $50 million in customer spending.
Rhythm CEO Lincoln Barnett III has worked in DeFi trading and with startups across fundraising, go-to-market strategy, partnerships, operations and growth. At Rhythm, he led the company’s strategy and development across trading discovery, automation, risk management and execution.
Chief Technology Officer James Miller brings experience across fintech, cloud infrastructure and trading systems. He previously worked as a full-stack engineer at Spendesk and co-founded Minty Finance with Murphy. His earlier roles included work on multi-region AWS infrastructure and consumer software.
MoonPay Continues Expanding Beyond Crypto Payments
Earlier this month, MoonPay also expanded PayBox, its payment vault built for AI, through an integration with Solana lending protocol Kamino. The integration allows eligible users to prepare lending and borrowing transactions through conversations with ChatGPT and Claude.
Rhythm adds onchain trading capabilities to that broader expansion, bringing asset discovery, automation and risk management into MoonPay’s ecosystem of more than 30 million customers worldwide.
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