Bolt to Acquire Wyre, Accelerating Mainstream Adoption of Cryptocurrency

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Apr 07, 2022, 07:00 ET

Industry-first, one-click cryptocurrency checkout will democratize global commerce for millions of merchants and shoppers.

MIAMI, April 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bolt, a leading checkout and shopper network company, today announced its definitive agreement to acquire Wyre, a groundbreaking cryptocurrency infrastructure provider. 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. By joining forces, Bolt and Wyre will build commerce solutions for mainstream, secure cryptocurrency usage for millions of shoppers, retailers, and developers.

Together, the companies will decentralize commerce–uniting their technologies to evolve and simplify digital shopping. Wyre's APIs enable simple and secure crypto to fiat experiences that reduce the barrier to entry that developers and partners face. Bolt and Wyre plan to close the transaction and fully integrate before the end of the year, and once complete, the acquisition will bring the power of Bolt's CheckoutOS—one-click checkout, authentication, payments, and fraud protection—to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Bolt will join forces with Wyre's groundbreaking crypto infrastructure to securely exchange crypto to fiat—which enables retailers to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method, with the security and ease of traditional currency.

"This acquisition is the fulfillment of a long-time ambition. When I wrote the draft business plan for Bolt, I had always imagined cryptocurrency at its center," said Ryan Breslow, founder and executive chairman of Bolt. "That was 2015, and the idea was a slide on a pitch deck. To think that seven years later, we'd be partnering with Wyre to make that vision a reality is incredible. This acquisition will fast-track our efforts to democratize commerce—and it will serve as a powerful proof point for the union of cryptocurrency and commerce."

"Our merchant and retail partners expect us to always be innovating on their behalf—because their customers demand it. That's why it's such a thrill to announce this acquisition, which is yet another step that Bolt has taken to improve the buying experience," said Maju Kuruvilla, CEO of Bolt. "This acquisition will pave the way for seamless, secure crypto transactions, and NFT enablement for our retailers. 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"

"In a landscape filled with mediocrity, combining forces with Bolt to extend its robust CheckoutOS into cryptocurrency will set a new standard and provide new opportunities at a global scale," said Ioannis Giannaros, co-founder and CEO of Wyre. "Simply put, we want to allow every retailer to transact easily in cryptocurrency, removing long-standing barriers."

Wyre will help to further develop Bolt's extensive API offering by integrating their unique crypto stack. That will allow developers to use the top blockchain protocols to build financial products that can scale to millions of users across the globe quickly and securely.

Among other benefits, once closed, the transaction will also allow:

Tens of millions of shoppers in Bolt's network to easily access a multitude of cryptocurrencies, fiat exchanges, and compliance solutions. It will be easier than ever before for consumers to purchase and store cryptos in what has historically been a difficult user journey.
Bolt's hundreds of retailers to accept cryptocurrency and consumers will be able to use it as payments for physical goods.
The purchase of NFTs through Bolt, using Wyre's APIs.

With cryptocurrency's use on the rise, consumers are seeking easy, jargon-free ways to convert currencies and transact with them. Through this acquisition, Wyre and Bolt will help millions of people do just that, by providing an accessible and effective payments platform atop a global multi-million person shopper network.

About Bolt
Bolt is on a mission to democratize commerce. Bolt strengthens retailers' relationships with their customers by unlocking secure, logged-in, lightning-fast checkouts. The company's rapidly growing network of one-click-checkout-ready shoppers visits Bolt merchants as if they are return customers. Hundreds of retailers leverage Bolt to offer their shoppers the seamless checkout experiences they've come to expect. Founded in 2014, Bolt is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in New York City, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Toronto, Stockholm, Wrocław, and Barcelona. For more information, visit bolt.com and follow @bolt on Twitter.

About Wyre
Wyre is the leading fiat-to-crypto and payment infrastructure company for the crypto ecosystem. Focusing on developers, the company provides easy-to-integrate APIs which enable thousands of developers to bring crypto to the masses. The company has "on-ramped" over 15 million end users to their partners and has processed over $10B in payments since inception. "Checkout", Wyre's flagship product, is the world's fastest fiat-to-crypto gateway and has helped hundreds of crypto applications better reach their customers. Wyre has been involved in the crypto space since 2013, supporting customers in over 100 countries worldwide, and empowering them with blockchain technology, ensuring the move to Web 3.0 is as smooth as possible. For more information, please visit www.sendwyre.com.

SOURCE Bolt