San Francisco-based crypto payments firm Wyre, is shutting down operations after nearly a decade in business due to market conditions.
The cryptocurrency infrastructure provider which is yet another victim of a broad market slump, revealed it had to take the difficult decision to protect the best interest of its key stakeholders and customers, noting that the decision was not due to any regulatory agency direction.
Wyre announcing its plan to shut down operations wrote on Twitter,
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“After nearly a decade, Wyre is winding down. Due to market conditions, we made this decision to protect the best interest of our key stakeholders and customers. This decision is not due to any regulatory agency direction. Wyre continues to secure customer assets.
After nearly a decade, Wyre is winding down. Due to market conditions, we made this decision to protect the best interest of our key stakeholders and customers. This decision is not due to any regulatory agency direction. Wyre continues to secure customer assets.
— Wyre (@sendwyre) June 16, 2023
The Wyre team has further disclosed that its assets are now up for sale, noting that anyone interested in acquiring Wyre or its subsidiaries’ assets, should reach out to 88 Partners.
Founded in 2013 as one of the now-oldest cryptocurrency companies, Wyre had as many as 200 staffers at its peak and was down to 50 in April.
The crypto exchange came close to being acquired by e-commerce startup Bolt for a massive $1.5 billion last year. The deal was considered the largest non-SPAC acquisition of a crypto company when it was announced.
Meanwhile, Bolt opted out of the reason for unknown reasons, while stating that it will continue its partnership with Wyre, adding that remaining independent would allow it to focus on its core areas. If the deal had scaled through, it would have seen Bolt bring its one-click checkout, authentication, payments, and fraud protection services to the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Troubles were reported to have started at Wyre, when it implemented withdrawal limits for user accounts, citing the best interest of its community. The company noted that it was limiting withdrawals to no more than 90% of the funds in each customer’s account, subject to current daily limits.
The firm added that it was committed to its mission to simplify and revolutionize the global payments ecosystem and is exploring strategic options that will let it navigate in the current market environment.
The move suggested that Wyre was preparing to wound down its operation. Though Wyre declined the allegations, where two former employees of the firm said that the company will be scaling back to plan its next steps.
Due to uncertainty around Wyre operations, the financial technology company Juno which had Wyre as its cryptocurrency custodian partner Wyre, recommended its users to either sell or self-custody the bitcoin held on its platform.
The company made it clear on Jan. 4 that it does not store any Bitcoin on behalf of its customers and instead relies on a crypto partner to handle such transactions.
The firm issued a statement saying that they urge customers to seize management of their assets due to uncertainty with their crypto partner, Wyre.
In another sign of more potential troubles for the firm, popular crypto wallet MetaMask announced the removal of Wyre from its mobile aggregator, which allows users to buy digital assets directly through its extension.
Wyre before its shutdown was valued at $1.5 billion and was reported to have raised a total of $29.1M in funding over 9 rounds.