The team at Wyre has shared an update with their community.
Wyre said they wanted to “provide you with an update regarding the current state of [their] business.”
Wyre acknowledged that they “have not been immune to the challenges brought by the current macroeconomic climate and the recent events that have shaken the crypto industry.”
Acting in the “best interest” of their community is their top priority, the firm claims. They are currently “exploring strategic options to navigate the market environment and deliver on [their] mission to simplify and revolutionize the global payments ecosystem in a safe and sound manner.”
Wyre’s management added:
“We are modifying our withdrawal policy. While customers will continue to be able to withdraw their funds, at this time, we are limiting withdrawals to no more than 90% of the funds currently in each customer account, subject to current daily limits. This will best position us to serve and maximize value for our customers and stakeholders.”
Wyre also mentioned:
“We also wanted to share that we have made important changes to our management structure. Yanni Giannaros transitioned into a new role as Executive Chairman and will continue to provide valuable guidance and support to Wyre. Stephen Cheng has become our interim Chief Executive Officer. Stephen’s skillset as our Chief Risk and Compliance Officer makes him well-suited to lead our company.”
Wyre added that they sincerely “appreciate the support of and positive sentiments from the incredible Wyre community and the crypto ecosystem at large as [they] pursue options that will enable Wyre to continue to flourish.”
Their operations continue and they “will share information with the community as it becomes available.”
As covered, Axios reported that the collapse of the deal by Bolt to acquire Wyre was the final nail in the coffin (for Wyre).
Industry insider Scott Purcell distributed an email claiming the rumor was Wyre was using customer money for lending, staking, etc. He added that you should never have any assets held by a firm that operates as a money transmitter.
In April 2022, Bolt announced its intent to acquire Wyre described as a “groundbreaking cryptocurrency infrastructure provider.” Bolt sought to integrate Wyre’s fiat-to-crypto and payment infrastructure within its platform. Bolt said that “tens of millions of shoppers in Bolt’s network” would be able to easily access a multitude of cryptocurrencies, fiat exchanges, and compliance solutions following the acquisition. The deal, valued at around $1.5 billion, collapsed in September.
Axios cited an email distributed to Wyre employees by CEO Ioannis Giannaros to “brace themselves” as they will need to unwind the firm in the next couple of weeks. In a separate email, Giannaros told Axios they are still operating but were scaling back while planning their next steps.
Wyre is based in San Francisco and holds multiple money transmitter licenses, which may have some value.
