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MoonPay is a great way to buy crypto using easy payment methods such as bank transfers or by using a debit card. Your crypto is stored within your own crypto wallet for added security (only you have access to it) and if you don’t have a wallet, MoonPay can help you set one up. Available as both an app and a website, it’s a modern platform designed to make buying, selling and holding crypto straightforward, secure and competitively priced.
MoonPay¹ isn’t your typical crypto exchange (where you buy, sell and trade crypto), or crypto wallet (where you can store your crypto), it’s actually neither of those in the traditional sense, but has become super popular as a way of buying crypto directly with your local currency (like Pounds) and exchanging one crypto for another, but not via a complicated and confusing trading platform (like most crypto exchanges), instead it’s all handled in a seamless way, using your own wallet by easily connecting to MoonPay.
It’s very popular (and for good reason). There’s over 35 million people using MoonPay¹ worldwide, and they’ve processed over $8 billion in transactions. That’s a lot. You can also purchase crypto using MoonPay in over 180 countries and local currencies (like Pounds), and there’s a huge range of payment options available (e.g. bank transfer, debit card, PayPal).
With MoonPay, you open an account, and then buy or sell cryptocurrencies directly from your own crypto wallet, or your MoonPay wallet (they set up for you), buying through your MoonPay account. This means that you have all the security of holding your own crypto (often recommended in the crypto world, instead of a 3rd party), whilst also benefiting from MoonPay’s security and reliability when buying or selling crypto.
It’s not the same as a typical crypto exchange who will hold your crypto on their platform too (often not recommended long term for security reasons). Those exchanges are more suited to regular traders (often people trading daily) who need immediate and regular access to their crypto balance to make trades, and use their crypto or money on the platform as security with the exchange to make trades. You could say MoonPay¹ is more for those looking to buy and hold crypto, or infrequent traders.
Technically speaking, MoonPay is a ‘non-custodial’ exchange, meaning it doesn’t store or hold any crypto for customers, instead you use MoonPay to make each transaction for you (e.g. buy or sell). MoonPay will set up a wallet (that you own) for you to store crypto if you need one.
In the UK, you can deposit money to your MoonPay account, and they’ll hold your balance ready for when you’d like to buy, and when you buy, the crypto goes directly to your crypto wallet. This is called your MoonPay balance.
You can use MoonPay directly on their app or website, or through certain partners who have integrated MoonPay into their wallet or service. For instance, you could use MoonPay directly within your Trezor or Ledger hardware wallet and all your buys and sells would happen directly within your hardware wallet. Pretty cool right?
MoonPay is a great way to buy crypto using easy payment methods such as bank transfers or by using a debit card.
Yes! MoonPay¹ is perfect for beginners looking to buy their first crypto, or looking to build up their crypto portfolio over time.
It really couldn’t be easier. If you want to, you can set up your own wallet, such as with Trezor or Ledger (which are hardware wallets that secure your crypto in your home with a real physical device), or when using MoonPay, they’ll set you up with your own digital wallet to store your crypto.
There’s no complicated decisions or interfaces, all you need to do is essentially verify who you are, decide which crypto you want (e.g. bitcoin) and then either send money from your bank account to your MoonPay balance, which is handled for you through MoonPay, or you can buy directly with your bank account, and the crypto you want will turn up in your wallet.
MoonPay¹ might seem complicated on the surface, but don’t fear, it’s actually one, if not the most simple and easiest way to buy crypto safely and securely.
You first need to open your MoonPay account, which is easy and straightforward. It’s just a few details to prove who you are.
From there, choose the crypto you want to buy (or sell), such as bitcoin, ethereum or any other cryptocurrency. There’s over 100 to choose from.
If you have your own external wallet set up already, such as a wallet like Trezor, Ledger or Trust Wallet, you’ll be able to connect your wallet to buy or sell crypto directly via MoonPay. So, your crypto arrives directly in your wallet. If you don’t have a wallet, MoonPay will set you up with a digital wallet (at the checkout stage).
To buy crypto, simply add money to your MoonPay balance within your account, which you can do via a bank transfer, PayPal, Apple Pay and other methods. This can be a cheaper way of buying crypto, as there’s no MoonPay fees using your MoonPay balance.
If you don’t want to use MoonPay Balance you can buy directly via your preferred payment method (e.g. a bank transfer straight to buying bitcoin).
Once your purchase has been completed your crypto will arrive in your wallet, wherever that might be (it doesn’t have to be a MoonPay wallet). The crypto is then yours to do what you like with (e.g. hold it, or send to a friend etc).
That’s it. Simple right? MoonPay makes it easy to buy and sell a range of cryptocurrencies directly from your own wallet, and in seconds. There’s no need to use a complicated crypto exchange more suited to day traders, with complex charts, graphs and numbers everywhere. With MoonPay, you simply click buy and it arrives in your own wallet.
Note: when buying crypto, this is called an ‘on-ramp’ and when selling crypto it’s called an ‘off-ramp’.
This is a pretty cool feature. With your MoonPay¹ account, you’ll have your own MoonTag, which is just a public name for your account, such as @NutsAboutMoney (not a real account). Other people can then send you crypto directly to your account using your MoonTag, rather than having to copy, paste or type a complicated wallet address (that often seems quite daunting!). As long as you know it’s your friend’s account, you’ll know the crypto will end up where you want it to.
There’s over 100 cryptocurrencies available, and all the major ones, such as bitcoin, ethereum, solana, ripple and dogecoin. 100 coins is a good amount, although it’s not massive. There needs to be a reasonable trading volume for MoonPay to offer a coin, meaning they can only offer the more popular coins.
The minimum you can buy is low, which is £20. There’s high limits too, and you can make recurring buys.
MoonPay has a strong focus on security and has external auditors checking their system. They use bank grade encryption and security and have ISO 27001 certification, which means they’ve passed a strict framework for security assessments.
You can buy crypto with a wide range of payment options. Including a bank transfer, credit or debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Revolut Pay, PayPal and a whole load more.
You can buy NFTs (non-fungible tokens) with MoonPay too. An NFT is a unique digital thing, such as online artwork, and can be verified thanks to its unique address and wallet it’s in. To buy one with MoonPay, head over to an NFT marketplace (such as OpenSea), proceed to buy, and enter your wallet address or your MoonPay account, and then follow the steps to complete the purchase. Your new NFT will then arrive in your wallet and will be all yours.
MoonPay¹ is very transparent with their fees, and you’ll be shown the fees for each transaction you make, as you make it. However, it can be a bit complicated, so let’s run through it.
The first thing you’ll see is the current price of the coin you want to buy (e.g. bitcoin). This price is taken from an independent pricing system and updates every 10 seconds, so it’s always up to date. What you see is the price you’ll get, and sometimes this can include a very small margin, called a spread fee. A spread fee allows MoonPay to maintain the price shown despite any price change during the purchasing process, allowing your order to go through smoothly.
The network fee is the cost of sending crypto over the cryptocurrency network (e.g. bitcoin or ethereum), often called a ‘gas fee’. This is a fee to the network, not to MoonPay, and it's not typically very much. MoonPay handles this fee for you as part of the transaction and you’ll see how much it is before you buy or sell.
This is the fee MoonPay themselves charge for each transaction. This fee changes depending on things like the coin, your local currency, and payment method (among other things). This can be an amount from 0% up to 4.5% with a minimum of £3.99. This minimum can sometimes vary.
Nuts About Money tip: in the UK, you won’t pay this fee if you use your MoonPay balance.
As a reminder, all the costs are clear and transparent before you make your order, for you review and accept.
This isn’t a full list of every fee possible. In certain circumstances you might have extra fees not necessarily part of MoonPay, for instance, if you are using MoonPay via a partner app or website, they may charge their own fees to use MoonPay, and there might be fees charged by your bank or MoonPay, for instance for card payments.
The customer support is great overall. There’s a help centre on their website, which covers pretty much every question you might have, such as help setting up your account or getting verified. There’s also a live-chat feature, where you can first ask an AI chatbot for help, and if no luck, speak to one of the customer support team who are there 24/7.
You can also email directly if you prefer, and their response times are good. Unfortunately there’s no phone support, but we wouldn’t expect this due to the size of the company, it being a technology company and operating globally.
MoonPay¹ focusses on security, using bank grade security, and have passed strict certifications to demonstrate their processes and technology are secure. There’s also a dedicated fraud and security team looking out for you.
MoonPay is registered in the UK with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This means they have been reviewed and approved to offer you crypto services.
MoonPay also doesn’t hold any of your crypto directly. This is securely held on your own wallet (only you have access), and you have a range of options for wallets you can set up yourself (e.g. MetaMask, Trezor or Ledger).
MoonPay¹ has an outrageously high number of reviews on Trustpilot, the popular reviews website, a staggering 100,000. It has a great score too, 4.1 out of 5, which is exceptionally high for a company in crypto, who often get very poor ratings, often due to customers not being able to verify their identity or not able to use the app.
With MoonPay, the reviews tend to be very positive and praise the simplicity of the app and website, the ability to pay with various forms of payment (e.g. debit card, bank transfer), its security and reliability.
Here’s a quick recap and the pros and cons of MoonPay:
We think MoonPay¹ is great, it’s a super modern way of buying and selling crypto, and removes all the complicated technical issues and methods there was when the crypto industry was developing. Now, all you need to do is either set up your own wallet, or just let MoonPay do it for you, and click buy, using a wide range of payment options, such as direct from your bank account. The crypto turns up in your wallet almost immediately, and it’s safe and secure in your wallet. That’s it.
Behind the scenes of course it’s super complicated, but that’s why MoonPay is a great option, and super popular. You don’t need to worry about what happens, you can just rely on MoonPay to arrange the transaction and handle the buy or sell on your behalf.
The app itself is great, and it’s easy to verify your identity and start using MoonPay. Or, you can use it directly within your hardware wallet (such as Trezor or Ledger).
You can also send crypto to your family and friends using their MoonTag, which is a pretty cool feature, and means you don’t need to worry about those long and confusing wallet addresses (and the potential of making a mistake).
Overall the fees are pretty low and completely transparent before you make a transaction. They make it clear how all the different fees are applied (e.g. a network fee or MoonPay fee). And in the UK, it’s even cheaper as there’s no MoonPay fees if you use your MoonPay balance, which you can top up with a bank transfer.
We also really like MoonPay’s focus on safety and security, and they are very well trusted in the industry.
For us, it’s a big 5 stars, and we highly recommend checking them out. To get started, head over to the MoonPay website¹.
Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more. This marketing communication does not constitute investment advice, a solicitation, or an offer to buy or sell any cryptoassets. In no way are performance or results guaranteed. You should keep yourself informed and understand the risks involved in buying and holding cryptoassets.
MoonPay is a great way to buy crypto using easy payment methods such as bank transfers or by using a debit card.
MoonPay is a great way to buy crypto using easy payment methods such as bank transfers or by using a debit card.
MoonPay is a great way to buy crypto using easy payment methods such as bank transfers or by using a debit card.
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Christopher Dowling combines a communications degree with over 10 years experience in the financial services industry in London – with focus on educating people on a wide range of money topics in an easy to understand way. He writes about savings, investing, pensions, mortgages, insurance, banking, loans, business finance and other money topics.
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MoonPay is a great way to buy crypto using easy payment methods such as bank transfers or by using a debit card.
