Investor concerns led to the cancellation of the $1.5 billion deal. This deal would have been the largest non-SPAC acquisition of crypto.
Bolt, a one-click checkout company, has withdrawn from a $1.5 billion acquisition of Wyre crypto payment provider Wyre. Axios first reported.
It was the largest non-SPAC acquisition of crypto at the time it was made public. According to Axios, investors were wary of Bolt’s one-click checkout business model, and Bolt’s \$11 billion valuation in a fintech saleoff. The cash-and-stock deal was canceled.
The deal falling through was equal on both sides
The companies stated that both businesses wanted to be partners, but would remain independent.
This isn’t the first major deal that has gone sour in recent months. Galaxy Digital’s August acquisition of Bitgo , a digital asset platform for digital assets, was rejected.
Wyre is a company that focuses on Bitcoin, crypto exchanges, and NFT marketplaces. Wyre CEO Yanni Giannaros said that Wyre provides APIs and infrastructure to enable merchants or developers quickly create crypto businesses.
The company also offers a fiat to-crypto gateway that allows merchants to take credit card payments and instantly convert to crypto.
Bolt is now adding crypto capabilities to its digital bank, Kuruvilla stated. This will allow customers to store crypto and NFT assets using Wyre’s APIs. Although he said that Bolt’s crypto addition will be available this year, he couldn’t be more precise.
Bolt hopes to change the behavior of consumers who have been slow to switch to cryptocurrencies for payment. Kuruvilla believes that combining Bolt and Wyre’s capabilities makes crypto easier to use in payments. “And we believe that this simplification is what will bring crypto mainstream,” he stated.
