Nuvei to Buy Crypto Payments Company Simplex for $250 Million

By Tim Hakki

Canadian payments processor Nuvei announced Thursday that it has signed a $250 million deal to acquire Israeli crypto payments processor Simplex. The companies are waiting on regulatory approval, and expect to close the deal in the second half of this year. 

Simplex, founded in 2014, converts fiat to crypto. It supports more than 50 cryptocurrencies, and popular crypto exchanges, including Binance and OKEx, have integrated it. Simplex processed about $500 million worth of transactions last year.

Last December, Simplex joined the Visa network, granting it the right to issue crypto debit cards. The company's customers can use crypto to pay for things wherever Visa debit cards are accepted—without opening bank accounts.

Nuvei said in a statement that it will use Simplex’s Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license to issue IBAN accounts to its customers, opening the doors to its own crypto Visa cards. As of March 30, Nuvei supported transactions for more than forty cryptocurrencies. 

Philip Fayer, Nuvei’s chair and CEO, said in a statement that the company plans to use Simplex to add “turnkey simplicity to the process of buying and selling cryptocurrency and converting it back to fiat within a user account – ultimately reducing complexity for merchants and consumers.”

Nuvei has also invested heavily in the gambling and sports betting business. Last month, it bought Mazooma, an American gambling payments company. Fayer said in a statement that the acquisition lets Nuvei operate in any US state that permits gambling.

The 18-year-old company went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in December 2020, at a valuation of $7.6 billion. It was Canada’s biggest tech IPO to date.

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