MoonPay, a crypto firm that allows consumers to pay for digital assets including NFTs with credit cards has raised $87 million from multiple celebrities. Some of the names in the stellar lineup include Gwyneth Paltrow, Matthew McConaughey, Paris Hilton, Jason Derulo, Justin Bieber, and Bruce Willis. 

The latest round of investment is likely to catapult the company toward its objective of becoming the PayPal of cryptocurrency. The recent capital injection has taken MoonPay’s valuation to $3.4 billion according to the company. 

SEE ALSO: Starbucks announces plans of releasing NFTs in 2022

MoonPay – catering to the creator economy

MoonPay made a name for itself as a concierge service. In layman’s terms, MoonPay simplified the process of purchasing an NFT ape. 

Celebrities who want to own a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT will get it from MoonPay and tweet to thank the company. Apart from these famous personalities, even Light Speed Venture Partners is MoonPay’s client.

Even Light Speed Ventures, which is an infrastructure service is used by around 10 million people and to date processed around $3 billion in transactions via MoonPay. The firm has joined forces with multiple exchanges including FTX, OpenSea, and Coinbase along with wallets including MetaMask.

MoonPay has said that it currently operates with over 260 service providers. 

NFTs are appealing, and celebrities agree

Unlike MoonPay, PayPal’s popularity grew without any assistance from Hollywood. Having said that, PayPal entered the market when NFT was nowhere in the picture. 

NFTs appeal to musicians and artists as they provide a way to create a revenue stream via digital assets. Banking on this trend, Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO of MoonPay felt that it was the right time to eye venture capital (VC) firms that have expertise in the creator economy when it was time to raise capital. He said that the creator economy was an essential part of MoonPay’s business, particularly NFTs.

More about MoonPay’s previous and latest funding round

MoonPay raised an impressive $555 million in Series A led by Thrive Capital, a company founded by Josh Kushner. Sound Ventures which is founded by Madonna’s manager, Guy Oseary and Ashton Kutcher joined the latest funding round. 

In addition, even Kinship Ventures, which brought the likes of Zoe Saldana, Mindy Kaling, and Questlove joined the latest round. 

The investors mentioned above have given Soto-Wright a network of celebrities. Initially, he explained the basic concepts of Web3, what an NFT is, and how they can set up wallets. 

Besides, he also took them through setting up wallets, writing down seed phrases, and connecting them to OpenSea. 

Although these celebrities have helped MoonPay rise to fame, they are involved for other reasons. Multiple stars including Lil Baby, Post Malone, and Gweneth Paltrow have used MoonPay to purchase Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT before investing in MoonPay. 

Since BAYC owners have the ownership of the IP of their ape, the NFT project became popular with celebrities. 

All in all, MoonPay has simplified the process of buying apes for celebrities.

Will celebrity interest in MoonPay continue? Share your thoughts on this story.

SEE ALSO: Why is Everyone Talking about NFTs and How Can You Buy Them?

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Feature Image Source: MoonPay