As the bear market continues to hit hard, Wyre, a cryptocurrency payment firm, may cease operations, amid staff layoffs, according to a report from Axios.

People familiar with the situation said that Ioannis Giannaros, the CEO, informed staff of the development. As revealed, the CEO sent a mail to employees stating that the company would liquidate, thus going to terminate their services this month. According to reports, the CEO said in another email that the firm is still operating but scaling back to plan what to do next.

Some staff members, however, complained about the firm’s decision to consider a sudden layoff. They cited how the firm didn’t offer any compensation, pointing to a possible scenario in which Wyre might be liquidating. An employee took to LinkedIn to confirm the development.

Recall that Wyre went into negotiation with popular e-commerce company Bolt at the height of its struggles on a possible takeover deal worth $1.5 billion in April 2022. Reports indicated that the two parties hoped to complete the deal by the third or fourth quarter of 2022 before the plan’s eventual collapse in September.

Before the deal’s collapse, the acquisition was tipped to become the largest takeover involving a cryptocurrency firm. If the deal had materialized, Bolt would have integrated Wyre’s blockchain technology into its services, and Wyre would have operated a part of Bolt instead of existing independently.

Despite calling off the deal, the two agreed to remain business partners. Through Wyre, Bolt now receives payment in cryptocurrency in some selected markets. The recent development highlights a difficult period for the cryptocurrency sphere.

In 2022, the industry endured major setbacks that almost crumbled it. Notable firms like Celsius, Voyager, 3AC, FTX, and Core Scientific went bankrupt. In addition, the collapse of FTX, LUNA, and UST delivered a major blow to firms within their blast radius.