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Bolt Financial Inc. announced that it will acquire the crypto infrastructure payments firm Wyre Payments. The move will allow Bolt to add support for crypto transactions for its checkout services.
“The acquisition, which is anticipated to close later in 2022, comes amid growing demand for purchasing goods and services with cryptocurrency and the opportunity of Web3,” Bolt said in a press release. “By joining forces, Bolt and Wyre will build commerce solutions for mainstream, secure cryptocurrency usage for millions of shoppers, retailers, and developers.”
The transaction is dubbed as one of the largest crypto-industry takeovers that do not involve a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), according to Coindesk. The deal is expected to be finalized later this year and is valued at around $1.5 billion.
Bolt is a San Francisco-based company that provides online checkout services. The firm recently raised $355 million in a fundraiser that valued the company at $11 billion.
Meanwhile, Wyre is a blockchain-based payments provider and is also based in San Francisco. With the acquisition, Bolt retailers can start to accept crypto as payment for goods and services. Users can also use crypto to purchase non-fungible tokens (NFTs) using Wyre's application programming interfaces (APIs).
“This acquisition is the fulfillment of a long-time ambition,” Bolt founder and executive chairman Ryan Breslow said. “When I wrote the draft business plan for Bolt, I had always imagined cryptocurrency at its center.”
Breslow said that he has been entertaining the idea of integrating crypto into its platform in 2015. Seven years later, it is about to become a reality with Bolt’s acquisition of Wyre.
“This acquisition will pave the way for seamless, secure crypto transactions, and NFT enablement for our retailers,” Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla said. “Both consumers and retailers will benefit from a friction-free buying experience that supports crypto and NFT natively. We're also proud to bring Wyre's unparalleled team and its advanced crypto stack into the Bolt ecosystem, and we're excited about our joint mission of bringing crypto mainstream.”
