Risk Disclosures

The value of crypto assets can go up or down and, if you invest in a crypto asset, you may receive back less than your original investment or lose your entire investment. MoonPay wants you to be aware of these risks before you invest in crypto assets. It’s also important  to keep these risks in mind when trading crypto assets.

This page is aimed at providing you with an overview of some of the types of risks involved with investing in crypto assets, but does not identify each and every possible risk. It is always important to be aware of the fact that there are risks involved in trading crypto assets. Please consider carefully if you are prepared to and can afford to run these risks, or any other risks that you believe may arise. MoonPay encourages all customers to conduct their own research before purchasing or trading in a crypto asset. MoonPay also encourages you to trade in fully MiCA-compliant crypto-assets only.

Please read this information carefully before completing your transaction with MoonPay so that you are aware of the following types of risk.

General Market Risk

The risk of loss when trading or holding a crypto asset, such as bitcoin, ether, or any other crypto asset, can be substantial. You should therefore carefully consider whether trading or holding crypto assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition.

Crypto Asset Price Risk

Crypto assets are not legal tender and a crypto asset may experience extreme price volatility. The price or value of a crypto asset can change rapidly, decrease and potentially even fall to zero. 

Non-Compliant Crypto-Assets

Not all crypto-assets comply with the requirements of MiCA and non-compliant tokens may present more risk than those crypto-assets that are fully compliant with MiCA. MoonPay encourages you to trade only fully compliant crypto-assets and reminds you that trading non-compliant crypto-assets may present you with increased risk. 

MoonPay’s platform supports stablecoins, which are crypto-assets that aim to maintain a stable value, usually by referencing a currency. Issuers of stablecoins that offer them to the public or seek their admission to trading in Europe must obtain appropriate authorisation under MiCA.

We warn you that not all stablecoins available on our platform have authorised issuers. If no MiCA authorisation is obtained, stablecoins may present higher risk relating to redemption, transparency and disclosures. Additionally, there may be very few options to sell non-compliant stablecoins. MoonPay encourages you to only trade stablecoins with issuers authorised under MiCA. 

To verify whether an issuer is authorised, you can review the regularly updated ESMA registers, which are available here.  

Liquidity Risk

The liquidity of a crypto asset depends on the ability to buy, sell, or swap that crypto asset. If the market for a crypto asset is not sufficiently liquid, you run the risk of being unable to sell your crypto assets or being unable to do so for a reasonable price.

Fraud Risk

Crypto assets may be lost or compromised as a result of fraud or theft, similar to any other type of asset. Phishing attacks, spoofing, scams, and attacks on the technological infrastructure of a crypto asset may all cause irreversible loss. Additionally, if you send crypto assets to an unknown wallet, it may be impossible for you to recover those crypto assets. 

Security Risk

When you buy, sell or transfer crypto assets you are dealing with a digital asset. This means that, like any other digital system, crypto assets are at risk of being hacked or affected by technical problems. This could result in you losing your crypto assets or delaying your ability to sell, transfer or spend them.

Access to Crypto Assets Risk 

Some wallets require you to have a recovery phrase to access your crypto assets and that recovery phrase may be a series of 12 to 24 words. If you lose your recovery phrase (frequently referred to as a ‘mnemonic phrase’), you may not be able to ever access your crypto assets. 

Network Congestion and Order Delay Risks

MoonPay uses good faith efforts to fulfill customers orders when they are placed. However, from time to time, it may be necessary for MoonPay to delay fulfillment of an order until the relevant network can process the order. MoonPay does not have any control over transaction times for a crypto asset network (i.e. the blockchain) and there may be instances where transaction times take longer than usual.