Juno urges Users to Withdraw: Citing Uncertainty with Custody Partner

• Crypto banking firm Juno had urged users to keep the funds on the platform to self custody. 
• Their custody partner Wyre had announced that they would be winding down. 
• Juno is working on a new partnership; details will be released soon. 

The year 2022 was dotted with major unexpected crypto events that shook the whole industry, including the Terra ecosystem collapse, the FTX saga, etc. There were hopes that with the new year 2023, things would take a positive turn, but Juno had urged its user to either sell or self-custody the crypto assets on their platform due to uncertainty with custodian partner Wyre. Not the expected start for the industry.

Juno, a Crypto banking firm, had advised their customers to move their assets from the platform into self-custody, or sell them for cash, as they are in the process of migrating their clients’ funds to a new custodian, as previous custody partner Wyre has announced to be winding down their operations in the coming weeks. 

CEO and co-founder of Juno, Varun Deshpande, said to the media:

“We are switching custodians because we expect potential issues with Wyre given they might be scaling back or winding down.” 

Juno does not keep users’ assets with them but relies on partners; one of the important crypto custodian partners is Wyre. The same was explained in a January 4, 2023 Tweet. 

Wyre is a regulated Money Service Business in the United States. 

In an email, Wyre said that the firm would still be operating but would be “scaling back to plan our next steps.”

In a Twitter thread, Juno said that still $1.25 million worth of crypto assets were held on the platform, and they are reaching out to customers, encouraging them to self-custody their holdings. 

As another measure to safeguard its users, Juno has temporarily disabled crypto buying from the platform and also conversion of stablecoins to USD into users’ government-insured accounts, “which are FDIC Insured up to $250,000 via our partner bank.” 

They have also increased their daily withdrawal limit by five times the original for all metal account holders, which is the heist tier account in their offerings. 

Juno and Wyre seem to be avoiding media and are not responding despite multiple requests. 

Juno users could withdraw their funds without any problem at the time of writing. At the same time, the platform also claimed that their services that are unrelated to crypto are going smoothly. 

Juno said they are planning to shift to a new partner, but it’s still too early to release information regarding the new partner and when the deal would be finalized. Adding to the matter, they said they were working on restarting crypto buying and deposits “as soon as possible.”

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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