Payments Company Affirm Is Shutting Down Its Crypto Business
During the bull market of 2021, Affirm had joined a number of fintech firms in offering clientele the ability to buy and sell crypto.
Feb 8, 2023 at 9:32 p.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/LOFOFUJUAVBOVHYORRNZ3VJOFY.jpg)
Payment network Affirm (AFRM) is shutting down the cryptocurrency service it started in 2021, according to a letter to shareholders on Wednesday.
Affirm Crypto will close on March 2. The shutdown is part of a larger retrenchment for the company, which also announced it would eliminate 19% of its workforce. It's unclear what proportion of those layoffs are related to the crypto operation.
“Concurrent with reducing our workforce, we are sunsetting several initiatives, such as Affirm Crypto,” CEO Max Levchin said in the letter.
Affirm joined other fintech firms launching crypto initiatives in the late stages of the bull market. Affirm Crypto was designed to let customers buy, sell or hold cryptocurrencies.
The company's stock recently fell 17% in after-hours trading.
UPDATE (Feb. 8, 21:47 UTC): Adds comment from Affirm CEO Max Levchin.
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Helene is a New York-based reporter covering Wall Street, the rise of the spot bitcoin ETFs and crypto exchanges. She is also the co-host of CoinDesk's Markets Daily show. Helene is a graduate of New York University's business and economic reporting program and has appeared on CBS News, YahooFinance and Nasdaq TradeTalks. She holds BTC and ETH.