By
Tatsiana Yablonskaya
July 26th, 2016
Bitcoin micropayments startup is closing its platform, a few months after its employees were acqui-hired by accommodations company Airbnb.
ChangeTip has announced the closure of its bitcoin tipping platform, almost two years since the launch of the startup. The company has unveiled the news via a post on Reddit.
The startup was founded in the end of 2014 by Nick Sullivan. With about 100,000 users around the world, ChangeTip has processed over 350,000 bitcoin tips. The platform supported a wide range of social media platform, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. A few months since the launch of the platform in 2014, it already partnered with YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr.
Last year, Coinbase encouraged its customers to use ChangeTip after it closed its micropayment tipping service Tip Button. As Coinbase noted at the time, it is committed to support bitcoin startups developing innovative solutions like ChangeTip.
According to Sullivan, the team behind ChangeTip has been trying to continue the platform, but the closure of the service was the only option.
In April, startup’s staff was acqui-hired by Airbnb and the original employees are now working at the company. So the closure of the platform seemed the only outcome as the majority of the staff started working on Airbnb projects.
Some in the cryptocurrency industry questioned why the service had to close, saying the problems with microtransactions could be a reason for the shutdown. However, the company didn’t confirm any financial or operational issues. In a post, it mentioned customer support, monthly server costs, and site expenses.
The platform is set to be shut down by the end of November, but it will still be available within a few months to let users withdraw their funds. As Sullivan noted, all ChangeTip users’ data will be deleted after they close their accounts. “At the end of November 2016, all tipping functionality will be deactivated, and the site will be put into a withdrawal-only mode for people to collect their funds,” he explained.
“The site will remain up for a number of months to allow users to withdraw their funds, and we will be reaching out to users to notify them. We recommend you close your ChangeTip account. You may withdraw any remaining funds via BTC withdrawal, or you can donate your funds to charity.”
The news comes after two years ago ChangeTip managed to raise $3.5 million from a range of investors, including Boldstart Ventures, 500 Startups, and CryptoCurrency Partners.
“We sincerely hope you enjoyed using ChangeTip. Please continue to spread the mission of generosity, gratitude, and appreciation all over the web,” the startup wrote.
