California-based online payments company Bolt is pulling out of a deal to buy crypto provider Wire. News of the aborted deal, which was agreed earlier this year, comes at a time when prices in the crypto and fintech sectors are falling.
Bolt abandons $1.5 billion Wire acquisition plan
San Francisco-headquartered Bolt Financial on Friday terminated a deal to buy crypto infrastructure provider Wire Payments, Reuters reported on Saturday. A definitive agreement to acquire Wire, the e-commerce platform, was announced in early April for a reported $1.5 billion.
The deal was considered one of the biggest crypto trading deals this year. After funding in January, Bolt was last valued at $11 billion. However, high-tech valuations came under severe pressure as investor sentiment was hit by recession fears and negative developments in equity markets, the report said.
Payments processor Stripe and fintech Klarna Bank also made significant rating cuts, according to Reuters. Industry prices in the crypto sector have fallen significantly during the market downturn in recent months.
Bolt emphasized in a statement that it will continue its partnership with Wire. He explained that the online checkout company’s independence allows it to focus on its core business. The company’s CEO Maju Kuruvila said:
We continue our business partnership with Wyre to pave the way for crypto integration into our ecosystem by bringing Wyre’s innovative crypto infrastructure to the world.
Wire provides blockchain-connected payment APIs and fiat-to-crypto onramps, forex and cryptocurrency to users of various crypto projects. In the year Founded in 2013 and a year later, Bolt is headquartered in San Francisco.
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