Crypto infrastructure provider Wyre is reportedly winding down its operations. This, after really feeling the pressure of dwindling interest in a volatile market that was promoted as the next frontier of innovative finance.
The decision by Wyre, announced via a tweet this past Friday, comes shortly after online checkout firm Bolt Financial decided to back out of its planned $1.5 billion acquisition of Wyre.
Since that time, the crypto-asset market has witnessed the spectacular collapse of crypto exchange FTX as well as major lawsuits from the US Securities regulator against Binance as well as Coinbase Global.
As first reported by Reuters, Wyre’s decision was not due to any particular regulatory action and investors who have assets on the firm’s platform may withdraw their holdings via its dashboard through July 14, the company confirmed.
Wyre’s management noted via Twitter:
“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.”
They added:
“If you have assets on the Wyre platform, you can withdraw them via Wyre’s dashboard through Friday, July 14th. After then, we will have a separate process to recover assets remaining on the platform. We will post details on the process on our website and blog. We appreciate your support and the opportunity to serve you throughout this journey. Please check our blog for further updates.”
As covered, Axios previously 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.