Quick Breakdown
- •Exodus is acquiring W3C Corp for $175M, aiming to become a fully integrated onchain payments provider.
- •A Bitcoin-backed credit facility with Galaxy Digital partly funds the deal.
- •The move aligns with a broader industry push as Visa, Swift, and others accelerate the adoption of blockchain settlement.
Crypto wallet provider Exodus is making a bold leap into onchain payments, revealing plans to acquire W3C Corp, the parent company of payment infrastructure firms Monavate and Baanx, in a $175 million deal.
A Bid to Own the Entire Payments Pipeline
Exodus CEO JP Richardson said the acquisition is aimed at closing the long-standing gap between holding crypto and actually spending it.
“By bringing card and payments infrastructure in-house, we are closing the gap between holding and spending, and positioning Exodus as the only platform you need for your money,”
he said.
By integrating Monavate and Baanx directly into its ecosystem, Exodus plans to internalize card issuance, processing and compliance tools. This reduces dependence on external vendors and expands the company’s capacity to support more payment assets, including popular stablecoins.
The move also gives Exodus the ability to issue cards through Visa, Mastercard and Discover.
Deal Financed with Bitcoin-Backed Credit
To fund the $175 million acquisition, Exodus will combine cash reserves with borrowing from its credit line with Galaxy Digital, which is backed by the company’s Bitcoin holdings.
So far, Exodus has loaned $58.8 million to W3C to support its acquisitions of Monavate and Baanx, with the option to provide an additional $10 million in working capital. The whole transaction is expected to close in 2026.
Exodus CFO James Gernetzke said revenue streams from interchange, processing and program fees will form a key pillar of the company’s future payments business.
Integrations to Boost XO Swap and Consumer Tools
The company’s onchain aggregator XO Swap will gain access to Monavate and Baanx technologies for programmable payouts and turnkey card issuance. The investment follows Exodus’s recent purchase of Grateful, a LATAM-focused stablecoin payments platform.
Exodus’s expansion comes as global payment systems increasingly embrace stablecoins and blockchain settlement.
In September, Visa began piloting a system that enables banks to pre-fund cross-border transactions in USDC and EURC, offering faster settlement. Earlier, Swift announced a collaboration with Consensys and over 30 institutions to test a blockchain-based settlement layer designed for 24/7 global transfers.