Purse.io is shutting down

[odolvlobo]

Purse.io is shutting down. They haven't given a reason yet. This is bad for Bitcoin.

https://twitter.com/PurseIO/status/1250876045693157377
https://support.purse.io/en/articles/3851246-closing-down

Update: Well, the situation seems to have changed ... https://support.purse.io/en/articles/3851246-purse-is-saying-goodbye

[gentlemand]

Where did they make their actual money? I could never be bothered to figure out how they worked and it was never completely clear how/if it worked for non Americans.

The obvious one is no one spending with the price down. I wonder whether there was anything AML ish too.

[Csmiami]

---

My guess always was that they charged a small percentage to the person placing the order. Anyway, I'm not really surprised people stopped using it; even if you could buy things with a "discount", someone had to pay for that discount, and it was crazy that people buying had to pay up to 40% on market price, it made no sense.

[gentlemand]

even if you could buy things with a "discount", someone had to pay for that discount, and it was crazy that people buying had to pay up to 40% on market price, it made no sense.

The people paying for the discount were those who wanted rid of Amazon gift card balances. I seem to remember reading people get paid in them quite often. It seems like a painless way to get BTC if you don't have many or any other options. I guess the most obvious alternative is buying something on Amazon and selling it on Ebay but that could easily wind up losing you more.

[Csmiami]

--

But even if it was "just" to get rid of the cards, a 40% on market price.... it's a bit abusive to say the least; it's way easier to just sell the codes here on currency exchange, and even if you don't get a 100% value of the code, you won't be wasting that much. But it's a free market, so we can't really tell people what to do with their stuff

[gentlemand]

But even if it was "just" to get rid of the cards, a 40% on market price.... it's a bit abusive to say the least; it's way easier to just sell the codes here on currency exchange, and even if you don't get a 100% value of the code, you won't be wasting that much. But it's a free market, so we can't really tell people what to do with their stuff

40% is pretty darned extreme. I hardly ever saw that big a discount. If you want to let go for that little then that was your choice but I for one would've been more than a little wary of buying one with that desperate a discount. No idea what the stats were for carded codes but they must've been horrific.

[logfiles]

This is very sad to the bitcoin developers and bitcoin community at large. I just got learn about how important they in regard to funding of bitcoin development last month. According to an article that was shared by bitmex research last month, they have been one of the top known funders of the open source development of bitcoin


Source: https://blog.bitmex.com/who-funds-bitcoin-development/

[rdbase]

Only did find out about their services late last year and knew about how they deal with amazon on accepting crypto in purchasing their giftcards.
So it fundamentally a way for amazon to accept cryptocurrenies as a start but now that is gone with this announcement.
Very bad for bitcoin in going mainstream with the powerhouse amazon being the leader in online purchases.

[figmentofmyass]

Where did they make their actual money? I could never be bothered to figure out how they worked and it was never completely clear how/if it worked for non Americans.

i've always assumed they act as a market maker, skimming profit off the discount/premium spread. meaning gift card sellers get a bit less BTC, and BTC sellers get a bit less gift card value.

Purse.io is shutting down. They haven't given a reason yet. This is bad for Bitcoin.

any service shutting down---especially one that provides market liquidity---is bad for bitcoin. but it probably isn't a huge deal in this case. i don't think purse.io is particularly popular at this point, though i'd be interested to see some numbers.

i always avoided it like the plague because of the fraud risks.

[mk4]

Weird. I thought Purse.io was going well as a business and suddenly we get this. Would it be possible for Purse.io to shut down due to all those fraud going on in their platform? I could also see how money laundering could possibly take place on the platform too. Might be a bit too far-fetched, but probably pressure from the government or from Amazon itself? It's just a weird timing. It's not like bitcoin dropped to sub $3k levels while heavily lowering down usage.

[gentlemand]

It seemed such an obvious avenue for fraud that I assumed they had some sort of super robust system to kill it whenever it popped up.

The alternative of it being a total free for all seems too obvious so maybe that is what it was.

[Potato Chips]

All we've got for now is this

“It was a business decision, nothing funky going on,” Purse support manager Eduardo Gómez said in a Twitter DM. Purse will disclose more information in a forthcoming blog post, he added.

....Gómez said the decision to wind down the company was not related to the recent move by Amazon to slash commissions on its affiliate program.

From what I read in other communities, people are either saying it's because of legal trouble or amazon cutting down commissions. I'm guessing their reply pertains to that. But If they were pressured, there's a high chance they wouldn't say it on their blog post... we'll see once it's here

Purse will continue to facilitate services until June 26

Also, this June 26 should not be final given how uncertain our current situation is (covid-19) with shipping delays going on.

[joniboini]

The explanation doesn't really mean anything (as you'd expect from public relations talk). It's hard to know why they close down at this point, and probably not worth questioning further. Do we have alternatives for this? I never managed to use purse but will probably need something like them later this year if I upgrade my PC.

Also, this June 26 should not be final given how uncertain our current situation is (covid-19) with shipping delays going on.

This is for ongoing withdrawals and orders only btw. As for registration, it is disabled on April 16th. Shop & Earn & open orders will be disabled too on the 23th. Just to make it clear for someone who doesn't have time to read the news.

[LeGaulois]

Purse.io was already dying for 2 years since some countries were removed for whatever reasons. I'm not really sure if they removed some countries or the areas were dying in the offers but the only countries available were US, UK, Canada, and Japan while more were available before.
.
Added with the fact that it's easier to buy bitcoins with a credit card nowadays and the fact they never managed to protect buyers against fraudulent purchases done with stolen CCs and vouchers, here we go.

I used the website myself and got some nice 30% discount but oh well, RIP Purse now

[gentlemand]

Purse.io was already dying for 2 years since some countries were removed for whatever reasons. I'm not really sure if they removed some countries or the areas were dying in the offers but the only countries available were US, UK, Canada, and Japan while more were available before.

I never used them largely because their attempts at servicing foreigners were half hearted and confusing. They did a fixed 5% discount from themselves I think. It was offered to me as a Brit but if I remember rightly it could only come from Amazon.com which isn't much use if it breaks or I need it within a couple of weeks.

Similarly there were very few offers from non Americans.

[AdolfinWolf]

and the fact they never managed to protect buyers against fraudulent purchases done with stolen CCs and vouchers, here we go.

I think this is the main reason they shut down. Always seemed to me like it would be too easy for people with hacked giftcards or giftcards received through scamming to cash out using them.

Perhaps they got pressured by certain authorities about this very issue? My best guess.

[malevolent]

They had 17 employees working in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the world. Combined with a crisis potentially much greater than the one in 2008 and Amazon slashing their affiliate commissions they must have not seen much hope and the numbers must not have been great before these two events. It's shame because it was the best place to buy at Amazon with a discount, all other places that I know of are shadier/have more scammers.

[AdolfinWolf]

They had 17 employees working in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the world. Combined with a crisis potentially much greater than the one in 2008 and Amazon slashing their affiliate commissions they must have not seen much hope and the numbers must not have been great before these two events. It's shame because it was the best place to buy at Amazon with a discount, all other places that I know of are shadier/have more scammers.

I don't think Amazon has ever seen more orders than as of right now though (by the looks of their hiring stats? https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-hiring-for-additional-75-000-jobs ?).

You'd think that would also correlate with an increase in Purse.io usage.

[gentlemand]

You'd think that would also correlate with an increase in Purse.io usage.

The BTC price is wobbly and the future is looking wobbly too. I wouldn't be going to town treating myself to Lego Death Stars either even if I was bored out of my mind. If things are looking dicey you'll probably be more conscious of selling it than spending it.

[malevolent]

I don't think Amazon has ever seen more orders than as of right now though (by the looks of their hiring stats? https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-hiring-for-additional-75-000-jobs ?).

You'd think that would also correlate with an increase in Purse.io usage.

And their shares are at an ATH, 30% up in the last 30 days. Maybe their users are different than average Amazon users, maybe too large a part of their income was from the Amazon Associates affiliate program, maybe the most common sources of gift cards are drying, maybe they're anticipating drastically lower demand once people start running out of money / the financial crisis starts for real / etc. It'd interesting if they could share all the numbers if they're shutting down for good.