Affirm, a highly popular payment company, is discontinuing its cryptocurrency services. The move comes as part of the company’s restructuring effort, which also involves a 19% reduction in its workforce.
The CEO of Affirm, Max Levchin, stated in a letter to shareholders that the closure of Affirm Crypto, which allowed customers to purchase, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies, is part of the initiatives being discontinued. The shutdown of Affirm Crypto will take place on March 2.
With that said, the exact number of layoffs related to the crypto operation is unclear. Affirm joined other financial technology companies in offering cryptocurrency services during the 2021 bull market. The company’s stock recently declined by 17% in after-hours trading.
It will be interesting to see how companies like Affirm re-enter the crypto space when the market is back to all-time highs. It seems as if companies love crypto when things are good and then ditch it when things go bad.
Now, that’s not necessarily the case with Affirm – but it’s very likely that the company will one day reintroduce crypto services, and that’s likely to happen when the market is way up, which means users buying crypto on their future platform will be buying at higher prices… so, it’s an interesting move for a company that claims to care about its users.
