Justin Bieber, Maria Sharapova, Snoop Dogg, Drake Invest $87 Million in Crypto Firm MoonPay
The cryptocurrency payments startup MoonPay secured an $87 million fundraiser led by numerous investors, including the Canadian singer Justin Bieber, the former tennis champion Maria Sharapova, and the Hollywood actor Bruce Willis. The company vowed to employ the funds to double down on its NFT efforts and allow interaction between fans and artists.
MoonPay Financially Backed by Numerous Celebrities
The crypto startup revealed that the investments are part of a Series A fundraiser, valued MoonPay at $3.4 billion. Ivan Soto-Wright – Chief Executive Officer at the company – expects content creators to increasingly use non-fungible tokens and engage with fans after the initiative. He further stated:
“MoonPay sees an entirely different format for the entertainment industry. My thought was: Let’s build a diversified portfolio of incredible people that represent different industries, and let’s talk about the use cases for their intellectual property.”
The total amount of the funding round stood at $555 million, as almost 16% of it came from celebrities. Some of the most famous names include the likes of Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Maria Sharapova, Bruce Willis, Ashton Kutcher, Aubrey Drake Graham (Drake), Gwyneth Paltrow, Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd), and others.
It is worth noting that MoonPay is famous for interacting with renowned individuals as it often stands as a middleman for celebrity NFT deals. In January this year, it purchased a zombie-themed CryptoPunk for 900 ETH, worth approximately $3 million at the time.
Upon closing the transaction, MoonPay tweeted asking people to “guess” who the actual owner of the digital collectible was. Fan predictions ranged from popular NBA players to the renowned chef Gordon Ramsay.
Last year, the host of “The Tonight Show” – Jimmy Fallon – and the American rapper – Post Malone – disclosed they bought a Bored Ape NFT through MoonPay.
The Partnership With MEW
One of MoonPay’s latest endeavors includes collaborating with MyEtherWallet (MEW). The latter integrated the startup as its on/off ramp partner for users across all platforms. The move aimed to grant customers enhanced access to the Ethereum blockchain.
Ivan Soto-Wright raised hopes that the initiative will simplify clients’ efforts, which is one of MoonPay’s key goals:
“MoonPay’s mission is to simplify fiat-to-crypto transactions so that more people can have access to this remarkable technology. Partnering with MEW introduces our services to both seasoned users and newcomers to crypto.”
Kosala Hemachandra – CEO and Founder of MEW – predicted that the collaboration with MoonPay will empower new clients and make them feel more confident when exploring Ethereum.
OhNoRipple via https://www.ohnocrypto.com/ @Dimitar Dzhondzhorov, @Khareem Sudlow