By
Godfrey Benjamin
June 19th, 2023
Bolt said that they will continue with their commercial partnership with Wyre while putting greater focus on their key areas of competence.
San Francisco-based technology firm Bolt Financial announced that it is calling off a deal to buy out crypto infrastructure provider Wyre payments.
Earlier this year in April, Bolt had announced a definitive agreement to acquire Wyre for $1.5 billion. If through, this could have been one of the largest acquisitions in the crypto space this year. The valuations of Bolt Financial recently stood at a staggering $11 billion. However, during the second quarter, the crypto market witnessed one of the biggest crashes in history.
As a result, the high-tech valuations have come under increased pressure with broader investment sentiment turning south. The fears of recession and interest rate hikes have pushed companies to take a conservative approach.
However, as reported by Reuters, Bolt Financial is keen to continue its partnership with Wyre. Bolf executives added that staying independent would allow them to focus on the key areas of their competence. Speaking on the matter, Bolt’s CEO Maju Kuruvilla said:
“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”.
Bolt Financial has been operating as a software development outfit. It offers cloud-based solutions for checkout, payments, and fraud protection.
Valuation Cuts in FinTech
After a strong bull market in late 2020 and the entire 2022, crypto market valuations skyrocketed. However, during the market correction of 2022, several companies are taking valuation cuts.
As per the Reuters report, fintech firm Klarna Bank and payments processor Stripe have taken significant valuation cuts. Similarly, industry valuations have dropped significantly in the crypto space over the last few months.
Wrye offers services for exchanging fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies between banks and crypto wallets. It provides blockchain-connected payment APIs, foreign exchange, and fiat-to-crypto on-ramp, along with crypto liquidity to users of various crypto projects.
On the other hand, some big market players find this an opportune time to make fresh acquisitions as some good companies could be available at a discount. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s VC firm Seven Seven Six recently raised $177 million for its Kryptos fund which will exclusively focus on crypto investments.