Lazerpay shuts down – In the latest crisis to rock the crypto space, a Nigerian cryptocurrency payment startup, Lazerpay has shut down after its inability to raise funding.
Lazerpay is one of Nigeria’s notable crypto payment platforms founded in 2021 by Emmanuel Njoku. The announcement was made on April 13 via a statement released on Twitter. The CEO pointed out that the decision to shut down operations was necessary after being unable to raise additional funds in a funding round.
Njoku said in his statement,
“We are immensely grateful for the connection we have made and the impact our platform has made in the crypto ecosystem. We fought hard to keep the lights on for as long as possible, but unfortunately, we are now at the point where we need to shut down.”
— njoku.eth 🙂 🟢 🟡 🔴 (@njokuScript) April 13, 2023
Recall that in November 2022, the company laid off some of its staff after a lead investor pulled out and they were unable to raise funds. The company has reiterated its commitment to ensuring a smooth transition for its users by resolving any pending issues.
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Therefore, the company has advised its users to use the bank or crypto payout options to withdraw funds before April 30. Furthermore, Lazerpay also invites other companies to make offers to buy its IP (Intellectual Properties).
How Lazerpay Worked
Lazerpay functioned similarly like Stripe only it was for crypto payments. Businesses used it as a payment method, collecting payments from their customers.
In an interview, the CEO highlighted they are helping Africans collect payments through crypto.
“What we are doing is helping Africans accept payments in crypto, but we have plans for much more. We want to drive financial inclusion and interoperability in Africa. We are building a gateway where Africans will be able to send and receive crypto using their local currencies,”
He also added
“For example, a Kenyan buyer can send Ksh to a Ghanaian seller, but the seller receives USDT instead of cedis, all without going to the bank or speaking to a middleman. People will be able to send USDT through their local currencies, and Lazerpay’s role will be converting the local currency to crypto—USDT—so everyone can hold the real value of their monies.”
According to Njoku, since the launch in 2021, Lazerpay has onboarded over 3,000 businesses worldwide and processed over $1 million in transactions.
Just recently, Paxful, another African crypto fintech company shut down. Paxful is a Bitcoin peer-to-peer marketplace founded in 2015. Nevertheless, some other crypto payment platforms Like NairEx still flourishes in the country. NairaEx allows Nigerian traders to exchange Naira for cryptocurrency.
