Bitspark remittance platform shuts down, blames internal restructuring

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Yet another cryptocurrency platform has ceased operations, and this time it’s Bitspark. The remittance and crypto storage provider has called it quits after seven years of operations. Based in Hong Kong, Bitspark has been a trailblazer for other crypto startups in the region, but is now shutting down its operations. The company blamed botched restructuring efforts and the unrest in Hong Kong for its fate.

Bitspark shuts its doors despite the excellent growth it has seen in the past year. According to its CEO George Harrap, the company’s Cash Point product has been quite a hit in the market. He stated, “This decision was not taken lightly, particularly due to the excellent performance we have seen since the release of our Cash Point product late last year which has seen 400% MoM growth and, as our customers will attest, they’ve been running dry on cash daily for the last month due to demand.”

Harrap blamed the company’s woes on internal restructuring that didn’t pan out as well as expected. The most notable of this was the departure of Maxine Ryan, the company’s chief operations officer who left the firm a month ago.

set out to do, does as you planned but everything has their limits.

Bitspark hit ours.

• What caused the closure.

As of a month ago, I made the decision to step down from my position as COO of Bitspark. 3/

— MaxineRyan (@MaxieRyan) February 3, 2020

Ryan revealed on Twitter that her departure forced the company to restructure, but the process didn’t bear the expected results. Ryan also backed Harrap’s statement which indicated that the unrest in Hong Kong due to the prolonged protests and the outbreak of the corona virus also played a part.

“This paired with the landscape of Hong Kong with protests and the coronavirus where Bitspark HQ is located. The team and shareholders decided this was the best way forward to prevent integrity decay of the company,” she tweeted.

Bitspark will allow its users to withdraw their holdings between February 3, when it made the announcement and March 4, when it officially shuts down. After this period ends, account logins will be disabled for 90 days. The platform will limit functionalities on its app, but users can still contact the company and request a withdrawal if their account still has a balance.

Harrap and Ryan both thanked Bitspark users for their support over the years, with the former stating, “I’d personally like to thank everyone who’s made it possible over the years to be able to bring Bitspark’s vision of financial access for the world via cryptocurrencies and make it a reality.”

Bitspark joins South Korean crypto wallet Bitberry which is shutting down as well, revealing that it has been unable to recover from the prolonged crypto winter that the market experienced.