Bitcoin Remittance Startup Freemit to Close Amid Funding Shortfall
Bitcoin remittance startup Freemit is officially closing its doors, two years after it first began an effort to build a remittance service. CEO John Biggs, a former editor for TechCrunch, said that the decision to shutter the operation came after a "perfect storm" of a lack of a viable product to show investors and, consequently, the inability to raise funds. Though Biggs said he’s not disillusioned with the technology as a result of the experience, he warned that he believes bitcoin entrepreneurs are giving up control of a technology meant to empower consumers to large banks.....
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Fintech startup Freemit is about to launch the next generation of money transfer. “Money when you need it, anywhere, in any currency, from anyone, in seconds, NO fees,” states the Freemit website in simple and very disruptive terms. “Send, spend and get money anywhere in seconds. Skip the bank with our Bitcoin-powered exchange and pay no fees, ever.” The Freemit service, which includes a phone app and a (presumably virtual) credit card, is scheduled to start rolling out in 2016 and incentivize users with $10 in their accounts. In the meantime, interested readers can sign up for a waiting....
Why did one of TechCrunch’s longest-serving editors leave a media giant for a bitcoin startup? For outgoing East Coast editor John Biggs, the answer is that he’s been leading one already in his spare time for the last year. Peer-to-peer payments startup Freemit has been Biggs’ passion project since December 2014, and the company has since raised more than $150,000 from angel investors, according to data from Crunchbase. Still, Biggs is just now making the leap to Freemit full-time, leaving his job late last month at a company he’d been with for nearly 10 years. According to Biggs, it was....
Singapore-based remittance startup Toast, previously known as Cryptosigma, has pivoted away from bitcoin and blockchain technology and reportedly raised $850,000 (S$1.2m) in seed funding. The startup - which seeks to facilitate remittances for Filipino workers living in Singapore - announced its re-branding in a blog post in July and said it would for now operate as a
The troubled crypto lender Hodlnaut shared another update after the company froze withdrawals on August 8, and then revealed the company is seeking judicial management in order to rehabilitate the startup. The latest update shows that Hodlnaut experienced a shortfall of around $193 million and this past week the company has laid off roughly 80% of the startup’s workforce. Crypto Lender Says ‘Financial Circumstances Are a Result of Losses Suffered by Hodlnaut’s Hong Kong Subsidiary During the Terrausd Crash’ It seems that Hodlnaut lost close to $200 million and....
According to reports, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried asked investors for emergency funding to cover an $8 billion shortfall during a Nov. 9 investors call. Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly asked investors for $8 billion in emergency funding to cover a shortfall caused by the flood of withdrawal requests to his crypto exchange in recent days.According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) citing "people familiar with the matter,” the CEO reportedly made the request to investors in a Nov. 9 call where he outlined ways to help solve FTX's financial woes.The source suggests that....