Bitcoin Startup Moon Raises $2.1M to Enter New Markets

Bitcoin startup Moon has raised $2.1 million to expand its partnerships and offer more types of e-commerce crypto payments.

Shared exclusively with CoinDesk, Moon CEO Ken Kruger said the company is using the proceeds to expand into a web and mobile application, making it possible to fund Moon cards with accounts from other exchanges (currently Moon only uses Coinbase). The company will also use the funding to expand its geographic reach, enable users to pay with stablecoins in addition to bitcoin and expand its team of seven to a team of 10 or 12 in the next few months.

The funding round included participation from Fenbushi Capital, New Form Capital, SBX Capital, Manresa Ventures, Fulgur Ventures, Flight.VC, Bentaus, Block0, litecoin creator Charlie Lee and Bill Murphy, the former chief technology officer of Blackstone.

“We’re looking for other exchanges that are looking for off-ramp payments capabilities,” Kruger said. “Then we’re also looking for people who have stablecoins and payment tokens. So we’re working with Celo, we’re partnering with Zcash.”

Read more: Bitcoin Startup Moon Brings the Lightning Network to All Visa E-Commerce Merchants

Moon is also looking to make the product available for merchants outside of the U.S.

“The cards can only be used at U.S. merchants because we collect such a limited amount of personal information, there are limits of where the cards can be spent,” Kruger said, adding:

“There are certain things we could do, depending on the jurisdiction, to allow people in other countries to spend in their own country. … We may need bank partners in certain regions, but we’re talking to Visa to see if there’s a way to avoid that. It’s a lot of understanding also the regulations in each region.”