MoonPay acquires Web3 creative agency Nightshift
In light of its effort to broaden the scope of the Web3 services it provides, crypto payments company MoonPay has made its first acquisition by purchasing creative agency Nightshift.
A one-stop shop for companies wanting to enter the web3 space
MoonPay, which is best known for its work in the financial technology industry and its provision of crypto payment services and nonfungible token (NFT) infrastructure to well-known companies such as Nike, Universal, and Fox, is now looking to provide a one-stop shop for companies that want to enter the Web3 market.
According to the company in a press release, the acquisition will further its mission to make a new ownership-based iteration of the internet, or Web3, more accessible to brand clients and, in turn, consumers.
Rebranding to Otherlife
After being sold for an undisclosed amount, Nightshift will be rebranding its name to Otherlife. As a Web3-focused creative agency, Nightshift has also worked with big brands looking to venture into the industry, like Coinbase and OpenSea.
What does this mean for Web3?
It should come as no surprise that large brands have been rushing to adopt Web 3.0 and NFT technologies into their business models as they have been attracting an increasing amount of attention from the public.
On the other hand, as a result of the continued volatility in cryptocurrency markets, falls in the market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the saturation of excitement, many of these companies are increasingly becoming less hyped and more cautious.
MoonPay believes that there is still a significant amount of interest, and the company aims to use the acquisition of Nightshift and its combined expertise to encourage brands to onboard into Web3.
“What Nightshift has done really well is show people what Web3 experiences can be and how they can deepen brand engagement. And at the end of the day, if you can show clients how they can be more successful, they don’t care if it’s Web1, Web2 or Web3—they just want to be more successful,” said Keith Grossman, MoonPay’s President.
Extending its sphere of influence within the industry
The second half of 2022 was a tough period for NFTs and the crypto market in general, although big NFT sales were occasionally made. Company acquisitions and partnerships also continued to spring up here and there in hopes that market conditions will improve in the not-too-distant future. The little rally this month also hints that the crypto winter might be nearing its end.
MoonPay is one of the few companies that are actively working to broaden their sphere of influence in the cryptocurrency, metaverse, and NFT industries through the formation of strategic partnerships.
In June of last year, it launched Hypermint, a smart contract utility NFT minting service that lets creators and brands mint millions of NFTs at once. In September, the company also partnered with Universal Parks & Resorts to launch a scavenger hunt based on NFT for visitors to Universal Studios theme park.
With other payment processing companies like Stripe jumping into the bandwagon, key partnerships are going to be crucial for dominance.
