MoonPay is buying North Capital, a private-markets platform with $9 billion in transaction volume, to gain SEC-registered securities-tokenization infrastructure. The all-stock deal positions MoonPay to move beyond crypto payments into regulated tokenized assets and DeFi.

• North Capital's SEC registrations (broker-dealer, trading, transfer agent, investment advisor) give MoonPay the regulatory foundation it needs to operate in tokenized securities
• The deal is part of MoonPay's broader pivot away from pure crypto payments—they've launched a Trade platform for tokenized assets and stablecoin liquidity and acquired DFlow and Sodot earlier this year
• Tokenization of real-world assets (stocks, bonds, commodities) is becoming a multi-trillion dollar opportunity, and this acquisition lets MoonPay connect traditional finance infrastructure to blockchain networks

Perpetual futures—contracts with no expiry—have exploded from $86 trillion on centralized exchanges in 2025 to $6.7 trillion on decentralized venues, carving out nearly 8% of CEX volume. Builders are racing to deploy new perp markets, expand real-world-asset trading and refine front-ends, liquidity provision and data infrastructure.

• Onchain perp volume grew 346% to $6.7 trillion, pushing DEX share of CEX volume from 2.5% to 7.8% in a year.
• Hyperliquid's permissionless HIP-3 markets let anyone launch a perp and keep half the fees, driving RWA perps (Nvidia GPUs, silver, oil, SpaceX equity) to 44% of its volume.
• DEX weekend crude oil perps now provide price discovery when traditional markets are closed.
• Perps' simplicity (post margin once, no strikes/expiries, liquidation as sole downside) makes them more capital-efficient than the booming 0DTE options market (2.3M SPX contracts/day, 59% of SPX volume) for short-term directional bets.

A16z outlines 17 key developments expected in the crypto landscape by 2026, focusing on innovations in stablecoins, tokenization of real-world assets, and the transformation of financial systems through blockchain technology. The article emphasizes the role of stablecoins in modernizing payment infrastructures and the potential for personalized wealth management accessible to a broader audience.

• Stablecoins are positioned to modernize payment infrastructure by replacing slow, costly legacy rails with faster settlement
• Tokenization of real-world assets is expected to accelerate, expanding blockchain use beyond crypto-native assets
• Personalized wealth management tools built on blockchain are expected to become accessible to a much broader, non-wealthy audience