Axiom’s DeFi Gateway: How MoonPay, Topper and Onramper Feed an Unlicensed Trading Hub!

Charlene Lensburg
Fri, 28 Nov 2025 11:22:48 +0000
Crypto Compliance, Defi Series, ticker, Axiom, MoonPay, Onramper, Topper

Axiom presents itself as a DeFi-native, Solana-based trading gateway – but operates with zero identifiable financial licence in the EU, US, or other major jurisdictions while onboarding retail users globally. Regulated or registered fiat on-ramps such as MoonPay and Topper, routed via the aggregator Onramper, provide seamless card and bank funding into this unlicensed environment.

Axiom (axiom.trade) presents itself as a DeFi-native, Solana-based trading gateway – but operates with zero identifiable financial licence in the EU, US, or other major jurisdictions while onboarding retail users globally. Regulated or registered fiat on-ramps such as MoonPay and Topper, routed via the aggregator Onramper, provide seamless card and bank funding into this unlicensed environment. This distribution chain raises sharp MiCA and AML questions about the gatekeeper role of on-ramps and their responsibility for the platforms they power.

Key Facts

Axiom’s profile: Axiom is a high-traffic DeFi trading interface (Solana-focused) offering spot, perps-style trading and yield tools. It is operated by Axiom Innovations Inc. (Delaware), backed by Y Combinator (W25), and reportedly generated nine-figure revenues within months of launch – yet no SEC, FCA, MiCA or other major licence can be identified (Source: Coin Bureau).

FinTelegram findings: Test accounts created from multiple EU member states on 26 November 2025 were able to access the full Axiom platform and deposit via crypto and fiat without prior KYC. Axiom thus behaves as a de facto Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) in the EU with no visible MiCA authorisation (Source: FinTelegram).

On-ramp stack: Axiom integrates third-party on-ramps – including MoonPay, Topper and Coinbase – via the Onramper aggregator. Onramper itself emphasises that its routing engine can select on-ramps requiring minimal KYC for lower-value transactions, explicitly optimising for “the easiest route” rather than the strictest controls (Sources: FinTelegram, Onramper).

MoonPay & Topper’s regulatory positioning: MoonPay markets itself as the “world’s #1 crypto on-ramp” and now holds a NYDFS BitLicense, a New York limited-purpose trust charter, and a MiCA CASP licence alongside registrations in multiple jurisdictions (Source: MoonPay). Topper, launched by Uphold, similarly presents itself as a compliant global fiat–crypto gateway (Source: Uphold).

Analysis: DeFi Frontend vs. Regulatory Reality

Axiom brands itself as a non-custodial, DeFi “trading interface,” arguing that users always trade from self-hosted wallets and that the platform therefore falls outside traditional regulatory perimeters. FinTelegram’s investigation – combined with Axiom’s own marketing and traffic profile – points in the opposite direction: Axiom professionally operates an organised trading venue, routes orders, and provides a UI layer to structured strategies, including to users in the EU and other restricted jurisdictions.

Read our Axiom Compliance Report 2025 here.

Under MiCA, any natural or legal person offering crypto-asset services (exchange, order execution, trading platform operation, custody interfaces) into the EU must be authorised as a CASP and comply with conduct, prudential and AML/KYC obligations (Sources: ESMA, AMF). MiCA’s reverse-solicitation carve-out for third-country firms is intentionally narrow; ESMA and multiple law-firm briefings stress that marketing or active solicitation into the EU – directly or via intermediaries – disqualifies reliance on that exemption (Source: ESMA, Squire Batton Boggs).

In FinTelegram’s testing, Axiom does the opposite of staying passive: it openly onboards EU users, provides a full-featured trading stack, and seamlessly plugs into on-ramps that accept EU cards and bank payments (Source: FinTelegram). Functionally, this is the business of a CASP – just without the licence.

On-Ramps as Gatekeepers – or Compliance Loophole?

MoonPay’s and Topper’s business models are clear: integrate into as many wallets, exchanges and DeFi frontends as possible and monetise volume via fees and revenue-sharing. Their own marketing stresses regulatory robustness, multi-jurisdictional registration and strong AML/KYC frameworks.

However, when these on-ramps:

contract with an unlicensed trading venue that offers complex financial instruments to EU residents, and

are integrated via an aggregator that deliberately routes users to “low-friction” KYC options,

they become part of the distribution chain of an unregulated CASP. MiCA and AML frameworks increasingly view regulated intermediaries as gatekeepers, not neutral pipes. EU guidance on third-country CASPs and reverse solicitation makes clear that regulated EU entities may not be used as a front-door to promote or channel business to unlicensed third-country platforms into the Union (Souce: ESMA, Manimama).

From a supervisory perspective, the question becomes:

Can a MiCA-licensed on-ramp credibly claim to be compliant while it systematically powers funding into a high-risk, unlicensed trading venue that openly serves EU users with perps-style products and no KYC?

That tension is at the heart of the MoonPay/Topper–Axiom constellation.

Compliance Assessment

Based on FinTelegram’s tests and public information:

Axiom appears to be operating as an unlicensed CASP under MiCA, offering complex trading services to EU residents without required authorisation or KYC.

MoonPay, Topper and Onramper act as critical funding rails into this environment. While they do not operate Axiom, they commercially enable and monetise access by EU users to an unregulated venue, potentially conflicting with their own stated compliance standards and, for EU-licensed entities, with MiCA’s expectations on professional conduct and risk management (Sources: Global Law Experts).

FinTelegram sees a clear regulatory red flag: licensed on-ramps cannot hide behind a narrow “we only process payments” narrative when their merchant portfolio includes high-risk DeFi venues that would themselves require authorisation if they were onshore.

Call for Information

FinTelegram and Whistle42 are continuing to investigate Axiom, its operators, and its payment stack. We invite insiders, former employees, compliance officers, partners, and affected users of Axiom, MoonPay, Topper or Onramper to share documents, internal policies, integration agreements, or risk assessments with us via our whistleblower platform Whistle42 (whistle42.com). Confidentiality and source protection are our highest priority.