E-commerce startup Bolt from San Francisco is reportedly establishing its presence in the crypto and NFT sphere, via finalizing the acquisition of fiat-to-crypto and payment infrastructure company Wyre.

Specifically, Bolt has reportedly managed to achieve a definitive agreement to purchase Wyre, with plans down their pipeline to complete the deal later in 2022.

As revealed by the Wall Street Journal, Bolt had to spend a total figure of $1.5 billion to get the purchase done, with the firm offering no confirmation or denial of the assumed sum. 

Bolt and Wyre are now looking to collaborate on a project of developing new commerce solutions for the mainstream, including crypto usage by Bolt’s global merchants, retailers, shoppers and developers.

Bolt and Wyre reportedly share a joint expectation of finalizing the full integration of their services prior to the year’s end, further including Bolt’s checkout system CheckoutOS to the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

The partnership – working towards the primary target of making decentralized commerce possible – reportedly looks to offer facilitating features for crypto-enabled payments – nominally BTC – of merchandise, while providing merchants with the tools to accept crypto. 

The acquisition additionally looks to allow users to purchase NFTs via Bolt’s platform through Wyre’s APIs.

As revealed by Bolt founder and executive chairman Ryan Breslow, the acquisition of Wyre has fulfilled its long-time ambition. 

“That was 2015, and the idea was a slide on a pitch deck. To think that seven years later, we’d be partnering with Wyre to make that vision a reality is incredible. This acquisition will fast-track our efforts to democratize commerce — and it will serve as a powerful proof point for the union of cryptocurrency and commerce.”