Nuri Bank Asks 500k Users to Withdraw Funds

Germany's Nuri bank has become another victim of the crypto winter. It has notified its 500,000 customers to withdraw assets from their accounts as the company heads to close and liquidate the business.

In August, Nuri first reported liquidity issues after revealing that it had declared bankruptcy due to the economic strains of crypto winter. At the time, it announced that operations would go on as usual while it worked on a restructuring strategy and secured a buyout. However, an acquisition did not take place.

Nuri CEO Kristina Mayer stated in an 18 October blog post that the company could not continue operations despite its best efforts.

Nuri urges users to withdraw funds before 18 December

Nuri asked its customers to withdraw all of their funds before the deadline of 18 December. By contrast, bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius halted user fund withdrawals before everything went down.

The bank assured its customers that all funds would be accessible and available for withdrawal until the specified date. Users' account's assets are all secure and unaffected by Nuri's bankruptcy. According to the post, trading will be available until 30 November, 2022.

Mayer stated that the challenges of 2022 were "insuperable" due to a tough economic and political environment and that this had prevented Nuri from raising new funds or finding a buyer.

While Mayer did not name its business partner, Celsius seems to be the most likely candidate because it had partnered with Nuri to offer Bitcoin interest accounts to its customers. When Celsius declared bankruptcy, these accounts were frozen.

Mayer also stated that the company remains enthusiastic about the potential of blockchain-based financial services.

She said Nuri is "convinced" that blockchain, cryptocurrency, and decentralised finance will offer opportunities that "add true value to the lives of people".

The adverse effect of crypto winter

The term "crypto winter" refers to an underperforming cryptocurrency market. There have previously been several crypto winters. For instance, cryptocurrency prices dropped and remained well below previous peak prices from late 2017 to December 2020.

But the 2022 crypto winter is different. Many renowned businesses have been closed in the year 2022 because of liquidity issues.

Nuri bank joins a growing list of cryptocurrency companies that have had to halt trading and withdrawals due to unfavourable market volatility, including Voyager Digital, Freeway, Celsius Network LLC, and Babel Finance.