Wyre, a San Francisco-based crypto payments firm, is ceasing operations after nearly a decade in business. The company attributes its decision to the financial difficulties caused by the bear market, clarifying that it is unrelated to the stringent regulatory environment in the United States.
In a blog post on June 16, the firm expressed that the winding down process was a challenging choice made to safeguard the interests of its key stakeholders and customers. Wyre assured its clients that their assets would remain secure and provided instructions for withdrawing funds from the platform via Wyre’s dashboard until Friday, July 14th. After this date, a separate procedure will be implemented to recover any remaining assets on the platform.
Additionally, the Wyre team mentioned that they are open to selling their assets. Interested parties seeking to acquire Wyre’s assets or its subsidiaries’ assets are advised to contact 88 Partners.
An Account of Wyre’s Business Woes
According to reports, the payment company has been facing difficulties ever since Bolt, a one-click checkout company, canceled its $1.5 billion acquisition plans in September 2022.
On January 4, 2023, trouble began to arise when Juno, a provider of fiat-to-crypto on-ramp solutions, advised its users to transfer their crypto assets off the Juno platform and handle their own custody. This recommendation was made due to the reported “uncertainty” surrounding Juno’s custodial partner, Wyre. The next day, MetaMask also discontinued its support for its crypto payment services for the same reason.
Shortly after these events, the payment company implemented a 90% withdrawal limit for all its users. However, on January 13, the company lifted this restriction after securing financing from an undisclosed “strategic partner,” indicating that the company was making progress. Additionally, it was reported that Wyre had laid off 75 employees in January.
The payment company joins a growing list of crypto and blockchain companies and projects that have struggled during an ongoing bear market. In May alone, several entities ceased operations, including Unbanked, a crypto fintech firm; BottlePay, a Lightning Network payments platform; HotBit, a crypto exchange; Terressa, a nonfungible token platform; and TradeBlock, Digital Currency Group’s institutional trading platform.
