Crypto payment platform Wyre has announced via Twitter that the company was forced to change its withdrawal policy. From now on, users will be able to pay out a maximum of 90% of their assets.
Hey Wyre community, we want to provide you with an update regarding the current state of Wyre.
— Wyre 🔊 (@sendwyre) January 7, 2023
Bear market effect?
The company is currently said to be exploring strategic options to navigate its way through the current protracted bear market. The withdrawal limit has therefore been set in their own words ‘in the interest of the community’. This news comes two days after two former employees raised the possibility of a closure.
It was also announced through the series of tweets that some changes had been made to the company’s management structure. Yanni Giannaros will step down as CEO and assume the role of Executive Chairman. In addition, Stephen Cheng, the Chief Risk Officer and Chief Compliance Officerassigned the role of interim CEO to lead the company through these circumstances.
Founded in 2013 in San Francisco, Wire was acquired for nearly $1.5 billion last year. In April, American e-commerce startup Bolt agreed to acquire Wyre. However, the bear market threw a spanner in the works and Bolt ultimately chose to scrap the deal in September.
Collaboration with MetaMask discontinued
MetaMask, a wildly popular wallet on Ethereum (ETH), launched earlier this week announce via Twitter that it has ended its partnership with Wyre. This will remove Wyre from MetaMask’s mobile aggregator. Wyre allows users to buy cryptocurrencies directly from the digital wallet.
It also said that other payment platforms such as Transak, MoonPay and Sardine will still be available.
Wyre received a relatively large volume from the digital wallet, so the termination of the collaboration can come as a hard blow. MetaMask said the following about Wyre’s removal:
We are currently working to remove extensions and appreciate your patience. Please do not use Wyre on the mobile aggregator at this time.”
