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.