Comparison site Finder is closing down its crypto trading platform, Wallet Ventures, after four years, signing a deal with Swyftx to transfer users to the digital assets exchange.
Wallet Ventures (formerly Finder Wallet) offered customers access to 18 cryptocurrencies through the Finder App. It launched in 2021
Finder notified customers on Wednesday, saying it will shut down on June 19, with the Wallet tab removed from the Finder App.
The company declined to say how many customers Wallet Ventures had.
Finder cofounder Fred Schebesta is a cryptocurrency evangelist, and self-proclaimed ‘”Crypto King of Australia”, but the business came under pressure from regulators over its crypto products in the last few years, and Schebesta stepped away from the role of co-CEO in 2022. The business has also been trimming its operations and staffing.
In a bruising encounter with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), where Finder ultimately triumphed, the corporate regular took legal action in late 2022 against Finder’s crypto product, Earn, accusing the company of operating an unlicensed financial product. Finder had already shut down its fixed return stablecoin product a few weeks earlier.
ASIC’s claim that Earn was a debenture was rejected by the Federal Court last year, with costs awarded against the regulator. ASIC has appealed, but in the meantime lost an appeal in a similar case over Block Earner’s crypto product.
Schebesta hailed the Swyftx collaboration as his former brainchild leaves the building.
“We were first to market with this groundbreaking ‘Bitcoin for beginners’ product and we are excited to see our customers provided with an easy way to join the Swyftx platform,” he said.
“Customers who choose to take advantage of our offer to assist their migration to Swyftx will find a wonderful new home that will be familiar in many ways, and expansive in others.”
Swyftx CEO Jason Titman described the finder product as “one of the iconic names in Australian crypto”.
“We’ve worked with Wallet Ventures to ensure their customers have a simple and safe pathway to move to Swyftx if they need to,” he said.
“We’ve set-up a secure process so that Wallet Venture customers can transfer crypto assets to their own individual accounts on Swyftx and they’ll have access to our round-the-clock customer support.”
Eligible Wallet Ventures customers will have a transfer option to their Swyftx account, whether new or pre-existing.
Brisbane-based Swyftx, launched in 2018, has more than 1.1 million customers following the acquisition of Easy Crypto in New Zealand last month.
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