Bitcoin startup Moon, which enables crypto payments for e-commerce sites, completed a $2.1 million funding round to expand its range of payments and partnerships, Coindesk reported. The round included participation from SBX Capital, Manresa Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, New Form Capital, Fulgur Ventures, Flight.VC, Charlie Lee, Bentaus, Block0, and Bill Murphy, the former CTO of Blackstone.
Startup to grow into web and mobile app
According to CEO Ken Kruger, Moon will use the funds to grow into a web and mobile application so that Moon cards can be funded with accounts from different exchanges. At present, the company uses exclusively Coinbase. Moreover, Moon plans to enhance its geographic reach, double the size of its team, and allow users to pay with stablecoins apart from Bitcoin in the next few months.
Kruger commented:
“We’re looking for other exchanges that are looking for off-ramp payments capabilities. Then we’re also looking for people who have stablecoins and payment tokens. So we’re working with Celo, we’re partnering with Zcash.”
Moon launched Lightning Network-enabled payment feature
This spring, the company launched a browser extension feature, letting users purchase everyday goods and services at any US-based, Visa-enabled e-commerce site using Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. Once purchased, users pay with the card at checkout immediately. When they check out, a prepaid card for the exact sale amount is generated via the Moon browser extension instantly.
Cards available to merchants outside the US soon
The extension also generates an invoice via Lightning, which is paid from any wallet on Lightning. Finally, the card is used to pay for the items in your cart.
On the downside, these cards can be used just once and are only available to users in the US. They don’t come with any fees though. Moon wants to make them available to vendors outside of the US as well. Ken Kruger added:
“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. 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.”
