Bolt, a California-based online payment company is renouncing an agreement to purchase Wyre crypto provider. This news comes amid plummeting crypto- and fintech sector valuations.
Bolt Offers $1.5 Billion Wyre Acquisition
Bolt Financial (a U.S. technology firm headquartered in San Francisco) announced Friday that it had abandoned a deal to acquire Wyre Payments crypto infrastructure provider Wyre Payments. Reuters first reported the news on Saturday. In April, the ecommerce platform announced a definitive deal to buy Wyre at a reported price of $1.5 billion.
This deal is considered to be one of the most significant crypto-business acquisitions in 2018. Bolt’s last valuation was $11 billion after a January funding round. However, the report points out that valuations of high-tech companies have come under increasing pressure due to investor sentiment being affected by negative equity market developments and fears about recession.
Reuters also pointed out that Stripe, a payment processor and Klarna Bank were both subject to significant reductions in their valuations. During the recent market crash, industry valuations in crypto have also dropped dramatically.
Bolt stated in a statement that it would continue to partner with Wyre. According to Bolt, remaining independent will allow it focus on core areas of its business. Maju Kuruvilla (CEO of company) was quoted as saying:
We will continue our existing commercial partnership with Wyre to pave the path of crypto integration into our ecosystem, bringing Wyre’s innovative crypto infrastructure to the world.
Wyre is a provider of blockchain-connected payments APIs and fiat to-crypto offramps. It also offers cryptocurrency liquidity and currency exchange for users who are involved in various crypto projects. Like Bolt which was created a year after Wyre, it was established in 2013. It is headquartered out of San Francisco.
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