Bitspark, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrencycryptocurrency remittances company that served the Asia-Pacific markets, announced on Monday that it will shut down on March 4, 2020. Despite “excellent performance” from a recent product, the co-founders blame a botched restructuring, made worse by the coronavirus outbreak and the Hong Kong protests.

After March 4, account logins will be disabled for 90 days and customers will have to email Bitspark, which first launched as a cash-to-Bitcoin exchange in 2014, if they want to withdraw their cryptocrypto. 

Death of privacy: Dash Core Group CMO slams Hong Kong’s phone seizures

The Secretary for Security of the city of Hong Kong police, Charles Lee, announced this week that the city’s police have seized over 3,700 phones from protestors, Business Insider reported. Hong Kong has been roiled for weeks as protests battle China’s demand that Hong Kong citizens be extradited to China upon request. More broadly, the protests, which have so far led to more than 6,000 arrests, are a reaction to China’s growing influence over Hong Kong. Speaking in front of Hong Kong’s Legislat...

In a twitter thread, Maxine Ryan, the company’s former COO describes her version of events: “As of a month ago, I made the decision to step down from my position as COO of Bitspark,” said Ryan. 

“This naturally caused a need to restructure the company which unfortunately landed this result,” she wrote. Despite 400% month-on-month growth for a new product, Cash Point, which turns shops into mini OTC desks, performance wasn’t consistent enough, and internal shareholders decided to can the company.

BTC

-5.34%$83,716.49

---

24H7D1M1YMAX

Price data by

BTC price

“While the HK protests and now virus epidemic haven't affected us much, it hasn't helped either,” wrote CEO George Harrap in a blog post.

The coronavirus is the epidemic that swept through China. In a matter of weeks, it has infected tens of thousands and killed hundreds. It’s also battered the Asian markets that Bitspark served.

The Hong Kong protests have roiled the city for months now; the protestors are angry at the Chinese government’s demand that it should extradite alleged criminals from the country upon request. It’s also made things tough for Hong Kong’s economy. 

Neither Ryan’s thread nor Harrap’s blog post makes clear the link between the geopolitical events and the closure of their company.