Crypto Payment Firm Wyre Imposes User Withdrawal Limit
- Crypto payment company Wyre has announced a modification to its withdrawal policy due to prevailing bearish conditions in the crypto space.
- It is altering its user withdrawal policy to limit them from cashing out up to 90% of their assets, for “the best interest of [its] community.”
- The company’s chief risk officer and compliance officer, Stephen Cheng, has been appointed as the interim CEO.
- The current CEO Yanni Giannaros has transitioned into a new role as Executive Chairman.
Amid the prolonged crypto winter season, which has forced several companies to restructure their operations and vaporized enthusiasm among investors, crypto payment company Wyre has announced a modification to its withdrawal policy.
On January 7, Wyre announced that it is altering its user withdrawal policy to limit them from cashing out up to 90% of their assets, for “the best interest of [its] community.” Wyre users can now withdraw up to 90% of their funds as the company looks into alternative strategic options to fight the stubborn bear market. The announcement states:
“Acting in the best interest of our community is our top priority, and we are exploring strategic options for our company that will enable us to navigate the current market environment and deliver on our mission to simplify and revolutionize the global payments ecosystem.”
Additionally, Wyre has also made some changes in its leadership roles. The company’s chief risk officer and compliance officer, Stephen Cheng, has been appointed as the interim CEO while Yanni Giannaros transitioned into a new role as Executive Chairman. Wyre users will be faced with changes to daily withdrawal limits as the platform implements new operational approaches.
It is interesting to note that the announcement by Wyre comes just two days after two former employees hinted at the possible shutdown of the company. Moreover, there have been rumors that Wyre’s collapse caused its partnership with the crypto wallet MetaMask to end.
Notably, on January 5, the renowned crypto wallet announced that it was removing Wyre from its mobile aggregator, which previously allowed users to purchase cryptocurrencies directly from MetaMask. The crypto wallet asked users not to use Wyre on the mobile aggregator and stated:
“We’re currently working on extension removal and appreciate your patience.”
Wyre’s withdrawal limit has negatively affected other parts of the cryptocurrency market, as evidenced by an email from collectibles and candy Topps, that informs users about the situation and how it affected the market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
“You may have seen reports that Wyre, a wallet service provider for our secondary marketplace, may be shutting down or scaling back operations,” wrote Topps.
As a result, Topps has also temporarily suspended transactions on the marketplace effective immediately. However, it assured the users that the collection would be safe and secure.
This is not the first time this crypto winter that a company has limited user withdrawals. Crypto blowouts and failures in the second half of 2022 caused a contagion that extended to almost every aspect of the industry. While several reputedly reliable crypto companies, such as Celsius Network and FTX, went bankrupt last year, it appears that 2023 will also not be able to escape the bad weather.
On the other hand, the Japanese arm of collapsed crypto exchange FTX has confirmed that it will soon resume withdrawals for users thanks to the strict regulation of crypto exchanges in the Asian country. Recently, Japanese authorities have also become slightly lenient on crypto rules, regulations, and taxations as well.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
