Comparison site Finder has killed its cryptocurrency product Earn, which offered customers fixed returns on investments in stablecoins, arguing that it was “no longer” serving customers amid rising interest rates.
In a blog post with the strange title “Finder Earn becomes sunseJust two days before closing, the company said, “With interest rates rising and the macroeconomic environment changing, it is now possible to get more attractive returns elsewhere.”
Yesterday, Earn customers were automatically pushed to another account called “TAUD”, a stablecoin pegged to the Australian dollar.
“In the past year, our members (sic) have earned over 500,000 TAUD and we are proud to have been able to offer such an innovative product to our members,” the post read.
A subsequent updated version of the original post on Thursday afternoon said that “we have returned all funds to customers and are no longer offering Finder Earn to our members.”
Earn had offered a fixed return of 4.01%, but there were concerns that the company was using client capital to invest in crypto — a passion of co-founder Fred Schebesta — to make its margins. There is growing local concern about the local regulation of crypto investments amid the collapse of the world’s second largest crypto exchange, FTX, amid allegations of fraud and Ponzi schemes, and broader crypto prices.
That round began with the collapse of a faux stablecoin known as TerraLuna, leading to the downfall of several companies, including investor Three Arrows Capital. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was involved in bailouts of some of the companies involved, but it now appears he will take down several more companies associated with his exchange and its associated investment house, Alameda Research.
