Wyre Limits Client Withdrawals to 90% so it Can ‘Navigate the Current Environment’

The crypto-focused payments provider Wyre has limited withdrawals for its clients to 90% of funds held in the account, citing a need to “navigate the current market environment.”

“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 said in a statement posted on Twitter this weekend.

The company added that the change was made “in the best interest of our community,” and said it is “exploring strategic options” for the company as it navigates the current market conditions.

In a follow-up tweet, the San Francisco-based company made it clear that it will continue to operate:

“Our operations continue and we will share information with the community as it is available.”

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.

— Wyre (@sendwyre) January 7, 2023

The new withdrawal policy applies to all Wyre customers. Requests for withdrawals that exceed 90% of the funds held in an account will be rejected.

The change in the withdrawal policy came as Wyre CEO Ioannis Gianna transitioned to a new role as executive chairman of the company.

The new CEO of Wyre is Stephen Cheng, who previously served as the company’s Chief Risk Officer and Chief Compliance Officer.

Follows layoffs last week

The new policy followed a decision by Wyre last week to lay off as many as 75 employees. The news of the layoffs came along with media reports saying the firm was shutting down its operations due to the market downturn.

Despite the reports, Ioannis Gianna insisted in comments shared with Axios at the time that the company was not shutting down, but instead downsizing.

Commenting to Axios, Gianna said:

“We’re still operating but will be scaling back to plan our next steps.”

Wyre was previously valued at $1.5bn. The company has raised a total of $29.1m over 9 funding rounds with participation from investors like FJ Labs, Samsung NEXT, Kraken, Draper Associates, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Pantera Capital, Stellar Development Foundation, and others.