[Edaily Lee Jeong Hun Reporter Jeong Yun-young] “MoonPay aims to build the world’s most trusted, regulated on-chain financial network. Our goal is to integrate payments, stablecoins, and tokenized assets within a single network while meeting the highest regulatory standards in every country where we operate. And within that global strategy, South Korea will be a key market.”

Caroline Pham, CEO of MoonPay Institutional—who also serves as Chief Legal Officer (CLO) and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) at MoonPay, a global virtual asset payments and stablecoin infrastructure company, while overseeing its institutional finance business—outlined this business vision in a recent interview with E-Daily. In fact, MoonPay is actively expanding its business not only in the U.S., where it is headquartered, but also in South Korea, where it launched MoonPay Korea and acquired Finger Inc.(163730)(Finger), a leading first-generation fintech company in the country.

◇A Heavyweight Who Laid the Groundwork for Digital Assets: From Citigroup to CFTC Acting Chair

CEO Palm, who previously led the digital assets division at Citigroup and, until very recently, served as Acting Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)—one of the two pillars of U.S. financial regulation—explained his reasons for joining MoonPay in the interview, stating, “I was convinced that the next era of finance would be built on-chain, and I wanted to play a role in directly building that future rather than just making policies.”

As a CFTC commissioner, he personally led the Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC) and the Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee, developing key recommendations such as the U.S.’s first digital asset taxonomy and guidelines for tokenized non-cash collateral. During his tenure as Acting Chair, he achieved milestones including the authorization of spot virtual asset trading on CFTC-registered futures exchanges, guidelines for tokenized collateral, and the launch of the CFTC Crypto CEO Forum and the CEO Innovation Committee.

◇“A Signal That the SEC Is Building Digital Asset Infrastructure Within the Regulatory Framework: The Evolution of the Financial System”

Regarding the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent inclusion of the establishment of a distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based on-chain financial framework in its draft five-year strategy, CEO Palm interpreted this as “a clear policy signal that the SEC intends to build digital asset infrastructure for the U.S. financial market within a sustainable regulatory framework,” and expressed his expectation that “tokenization will move beyond the pilot project stage and enter full-scale commercialization.”

He added, “The financial industry is already rapidly integrating digital assets into the existing financial system, and we have reached a point where reversing this trend is practically impossible,” predicting that “just as paper-based markets evolved into electronic trading markets, digital finance will mark the next stage in the evolution of the financial system.”

◇“MoonPay: Becoming the World’s Most Trusted, Regulated On-Chain Financial Network”

In line with this, CEO Palm stated, “MoonPay aims to build the world’s most trusted, regulated on-chain financial network,” adding, “Our goal is to connect payments, stablecoins, and tokenized assets within a single network while meeting the highest regulatory standards in every country where we operate.”

To this end, MoonPay has recently obtained money transmitter licenses across the United States and has also secured a BitLicense and a Limited Purpose Trust Charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). As a result, MoonPay is now able to provide digital asset custody and conduct over-the-counter (OTC) trading; within the United States, only a handful of companies—including Coinbase, PayPal, and Ripple—have obtained all of these authorizations.

◇“MoonPay Trade to Become Core Infrastructure for Tokenized Asset Trading”

In addition, MoonPay provides a tokenized asset trading infrastructure called “MoonPay Trade.” Currently, MoonPay Trade connects more than 200 blockchains and protocols and features an execution layer that allows users to simultaneously leverage liquidity from both centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized finance (DeFi).

CEO Palm stated, “By already offering Franklin Templeton’s BENJI tokenized MMF through MoonPay Trade, we have enabled eligible institutional investors to freely exchange and trade stablecoins and Franklin Templeton’s tokenized MMF in an on-chain environment 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” adding "This marks the starting point of a long-term strategic collaboration. As we are already receiving partnership inquiries from many global financial institutions, we will select additional similar partners to build core infrastructure that connects the entire spectrum of tokenized assets—from quoting and order routing to trade execution, settlement, and compliance," he promised.

◇“South Korea Is a Core Market in Our Global Strategy; We’ve Already Proven This Through Actions Such as Investments This Year”

He emphasized that South Korea will become a core market in MoonPay’s global strategy. He added, “This year, we have demonstrated this not merely as a plan, but through concrete actions such as investment, infrastructure development, and talent acquisition.”

In fact, MoonPay made a strategic investment in Finger Inc., a first-generation South Korean fintech company, this past April. Finger Inc. currently manages the core infrastructure for mobile banking services used by tens of millions of Koreans, and he explained that this investment lays the groundwork for building an ecosystem that spans from the issuance of won-pegged stablecoins to their practical application. Additionally, MoonPay appointed Lee Bu-geon, a co-founder of MoonPay, as Head of Asia-Pacific (APAC), based in Seoul.

Palm’s CEO said, “Few global digital asset companies have made investments of this magnitude in the Korean market,” adding, “This is because MoonPay is confident that Korea will become one of the key markets representing on-chain finance in the future.”

He continued, “We plan to operate all of our business initiatives in Korea within the regulatory framework established by Korean financial authorities,” emphasizing, “We have maintained close communication with Korean financial and policy authorities over the past few years, and we will continue to collaborate with regulatory bodies to contribute to the growth of Korea’s digital asset industry and the development of its regulatory framework.”