Bolt Financial to acquire crypto startup Wyre for $1.5 Billion

Bolt Financial Inc., offers payments and checkout services for merchants, the same market eyed by giants PayPal and Apple’s Apple Pay.

Bolt Financial Inc., a San Francisco-based fintech company focused on online payments, is reportedly set to acquire crypto startup Wyre Payments Inc.

Wyre is a crypto payments infrastructure provider, founded in 2013. The company operates as a money business services provider across 27 US states and is key to connecting both retail customers and businesses to banks and crypto wallets.

A Wall Street Journal report on Thursday cited sources familiar with the acquisition as noting that the parties expect to close the deal for $1.5 billion.

If completed, the merger would become the largest in the crypto industry not to involve a Special Acquisition Company (SPAC), or blank-check company. Its value would dwarf the $1.2 billion Galaxy Digital Holdings splashed to acquire BitGo Inc. in May last year.

Reports of a possible deal for Wyre comes as Bolt, founded in 2014, looks to bolster its online payments business amid stiff competition and outmuscling by giants like PayPal and Apple’s Apple Pay. 

In January, the company secured $355 million in its series E funding round at a valuation of $11 billion.