Bitcoin startup Bonafide announces cessation of operations

Bitcoin startup Bonafide recently announced that it would cease operations and begin liquidation. The company officially operated for less than a year and raised $850,000 in start-up funds in February this year, with investors including Blockchain Capital and Quest Venture Partners.

A reportedly leading bitcoin company considered acquiring Bonafide but ultimately dropped the idea because the acquisition was deemed “only beneficial to team members” and not to investors, according to an email sent by the company to shareholders and obtained by CoinDesk.

Bonafide was founded in 2013 with the goal of building a reputation system for the Bitcoin industry, claiming to subvert Bitcoin's anonymity. Bonafide wants to develop an API to provide reputation data to Bitcoin companies engaged in Bitcoin wallets, exchanges and other services.

In an email, co-founders Karthik Balasubramanian and Brian Moyer said one of the reasons for the shutdown was a shift in investor interest.

Balasubramanian wrote:

“While investors are still interested in the bitcoin industry, their focus is no longer on the bitcoin blockchain or public blockchains that Bonafide runs, but on other private blockchains.”

As a result, the Bonafide co-founders believe that the chances of the company generating revenue in the future are slim.

Moyer told CoinDesk that a decline in consumer spending on bitcoin was the main reason for the company’s closure.

“We don’t want to be a consultant on Bitcoin. Anyway, the work we do has received some support, but it is not mature enough. Although we can also raise funds to carry out other projects, it is not something that can be done just like that. Long-term planning is required.”

Moyer said that the founding team has not received a salary since April this year, when the company was considering shifting to a bitcoin compliance business.

Moyer was not very clear about what will happen in the future, only saying:

“We will also closely monitor the development of the Bitcoin industry.”

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-startup-bonafide-shuts-down/
By Pete Rizzo
Translator: printemps
Editor: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/bonafide-shuts)