Paxos announced on November 25, 2025 the acquisition of crypto wallet startup Fordefi for an amount exceeding $100 million, in a transaction aimed at expanding its institutional custody services. The acquisition strengthens Paxos’s position in on-chain issuance, tokenization, and stablecoin payments, areas experiencing accelerating demand from corporate clients.
Paxos strengthens its institutional infrastructure with the purchase of Fordefi
The transaction, described by the company as a nine-figure purchase, follows a previous connection between the two firms: Paxos had participated in a $10 million funding round in Fordefi. Fordefi contributes an MPC-based institutional wallet system and a client base closely tied to DeFi operations, elements that explain the strategic value of the deal.
MPC is a cryptographic method that splits parts of a key among multiple entities so that no party holds the full key, reducing single-point-of-failure risk. Fordefi processes, according to the company, more than $120 billion in monthly transaction volume and supports over 90 blockchain networks—volumes that justify Paxos’s interest in integrating its technology.
Fordefi operates with approximately 40 employees and serves around 300 clients; it will maintain operational independence in an initial phase while its gradual integration into Paxos’s infrastructure is planned. The acquisition aims to rebuild Paxos’s custody layer with greater flexibility and resilience for clients issuing stablecoins, tokenizing assets, or requiring institutional-grade custody services.
Paxos’s current clients include major payment platforms that demand regulated environments for tokenized operations.
Paxos has built its model on a strong commitment to compliance. It issues stablecoins such as Pax Dollar (USDP) and PayPal USD (PYUSD) and operates under the oversight of financial regulators, a positioning that differentiates it from unregulated competitors and reinforces trust among institutional clients.
The acquisition of Fordefi follows another recent compliance-focused move: the purchase of Membrane Finance, intended to support alignment with the EU’s MiCA regime. Paxos’s strategy blends technological expansion with regulatory traceability to streamline institutional entry into on-chain ecosystems.
Maintaining compliance with frameworks like MiCA and the requirements of supervisors such as the NYDFS will be decisive, as technological integration must meet custody, audit, and AML/KYC standards to materialize the promised institutional safeguards.
The transaction consolidates Paxos’s roadmap to build a fully regulated custody infrastructure suited for institutional capital.