snapCard
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
snapCard was a San Francisco bitcoin wallet and exchange service launched in 2013 by Michael Dunworth and Ioannis Giannaros. Consumers in the United States and Brazil could buy and sell bitcoin through the app, and merchants could accept bitcoin payments through its tools. The startup raised a $1.5 million seed round from investors including Tim Draper, Blockchain Capital and Boost VC.
02 / snapCard FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
The bet on consumer bitcoin payments did not pay off: Snapcard competed head-on with strong rivals such as BitPay, and the founders concluded the consumer market would not carry the business. Adoption metrics looked healthy but bitcoin for everyday payments never broke through, so the company deactivated buying and selling on March 20, 2017 and closed the wallet service on May 1, 2017, redirecting the team to its MassPay blockchain payments rail and later rebranding as Wyre.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Product launch
snapCard launches as a bitcoin wallet and payment service in San Francisco, serving consumers and merchants in the US and Brazil.
- Product launch
The company launches MassPay, a service using the bitcoin blockchain as a payments rail for mass payouts.
- Closure announced
Snapcard announces it will shut down its bitcoin wallet service to focus on MassPay; trading ends March 20 and the service closes May 1, 2017. It later rebrands as Wyre.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Bitcoin wallet and exchange for consumers and merchants
- 02
Faced strong competition and weak consumer bitcoin adoption
- 03
Wallet service shut down in May 2017
- 04
Pivoted to MassPay rail and rebranded as Wyre