Sequoia-backed Flint Labs to shut down DeFi lending app; pivots to GasPay
Flint Labs faced several regulatory challenges and obstacles, leading to the shutting down of its app with over 250,000 users.
Sequoia-backed DeFi app Labs has decided to pivot to another app, putting its first product, Flint Money, to rest.
The company, which revealed the news in a blog post on May 14, said, it faced several regulatory challenges and obstacles leading to the shutting down of its app that had over 250,000 users.
This includes a negative regulatory climate in India that forced it to shut down its on-ramp systems, making it difficult to onboard retail users, besides exorbitant tax rates in India and other regulatory pressures in crypto-friendly markets like the United States, the company said.
YourStory was the first to report Flint Lab's decision to shut down its yield-bearing service in January.
It also cited an inability to advertise as a challenge. "We encountered substantial limitations on marketing channels worldwide, as our target audience primarily used Facebook and Instagram, platforms where we were unable to run advertisements, leading to hindered growth," the blog post read.
"Upon reflecting on the journey of Flint Labs and the various challenges we faced, it became evident that continuing with the Flint Money app was not sustainable," it added.
GasPay and the Flint stack
Flint Labs launched GasPay in ETHDenver, held on February 2023. As per GasPay's official Twitter account, it is a Web3 solution that allows users to pay gas fees in any token.
As of April of this year, the app had nearly 5,000 users who have moved close to a million dollars in volume, the company said in its blog post.
The company plans to launch an entire tech stack focused on solutions similar to GasPay. It will also work on solutions related to existing Layer-2s and Decentralised Finance, it said.
Edited by Suman Singh
