Wyre to cap withdrawals

Wyre, the crypto-payments startup, announced changes to its withdrawal policy. Users will be able to withdraw no more than 90% of the funds in their account, subject to daily limits.

We are modifying our withdrawal policy. While customers will continue to be able to withdraw their funds, at this time, we are limiting withdrawals to no more than 90% of the funds currently in each customer account, subject to current daily limits.

— Wyre 🔊 (@sendwyre) January 7, 2023

“Working in the interests of the community is the top priority, and we are exploring strategic options for our company that will allow us to navigate the current market environment,” the team said.

According to Wyre’s website, the current daily withdrawal limits are 5 BTC, 50 ETH and 20,000 for DAI, USDC, and also WETH. For fiat, the corresponding limit is set at $150,000 or roughly the same amount in other currencies.

According to Axios, previously co-founder and CEO Ioannis Giannaros warned staff about a possible shutdown of the business. The outlet cited two anonymous sources. Axios also noted a remark left by a former employee on LinkedIn.

“Wyre will no longer be a profitable business,” he noted in the layoff message.

Giannaros declined to comment on a possible shutdown of the company.

“We are still operating, but we will scale back to plan the next steps,” he replied.

Alongside the withdrawal policy announcement, Wyre announced leadership changes. Giannaros will step down as CEO and will continue to serve as executive chairman. His role will temporarily be filled by Steven Chen, formerly the director of risk and compliance.

In April 2022, fintech Bolt Financial signed a purchase for $1.5 billion with Wyre. In September, the parties backed out of the deal.

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