Flip app users can’t access funds as new proprietor, Blockfinex, blames slow migration

Users of Flip, a B2C crypto platform by Fluidcoins, have been unable to access their funds for months. Fluidcoins’s buying firm, Blockfinex, acknowledges the issue and is working in direction of a decision whereas planning to close down the Flip app with the intention to prioritise Fluidcoins’ B2B potential.

Users of Flip, an app developed by crypto startup Fluidcoins, have been dealing with persistent points accessing their funds for a number of months now. These users, a few of whom are in Flip’s Telegram group with over 300 members, have expressed frustration over the perceived indifference of Flip’s operators in direction of their plight. Blockfinex, a crypto change firm that acquired Flip’s guardian firm Fluidcoins, informed TechCabal that it’s actively working to handle these points. They additionally shared plans to fully shut down Flip and give attention to serving companies as a substitute of particular person users.

Lamide*, a product supervisor informed TechCabal that he had difficulties accessing his funds in October 2022 as a result of a KYC (know-your-customer) course of. In his dialog with TechCabal, he said, “I deposited $100 into Flip [which promised a 6% annual yield]. However, in October last year, I realised that I couldn’t access my money because I failed to complete the KYC successfully.” He initially contacted Flip on Twitter, they usually supplied him with some steps to observe. But, regardless of diligently following the directions, months handed with out him with the ability to access his funds. Eventually, Lamide emailed the founder,  Lanre Adenowo, who directed him to affix the earlier-mentioned Telegram group. It was inside this group that Lamide found different users dealing with related points and a wide range of different issues with the app.

According to Lamide, the Telegram group at the moment has round 333 people, together with users and a few staff of Fluidcoins. The vary of issues reported by group members diversified, from the shortcoming to access their financial savings to the shortcoming to retrieve funds from expired digital greenback playing cards. Lamide emphasised: “Aside from users expressing their complaints and asking unanswered questions about the status of their funds, the company rarely communicates any information on the channel, but they keep making posts on Twitter.”

Blockfinex, the corporate that acquired Flip’s guardian firm Fluidcoins final 12 months, has confirmed that users are experiencing difficulties accessing their funds. Danny Oyekan, founder and CEO of Blockfinex, insists that solely 20 out of the 34,000 users inherited from Flip could also be dealing with these issues and that the cash held up could also be about $5,000. He defined, “The issues arise from technical and financial challenges that were unknown to us during the acquisition. To resolve them, we are currently migrating customers from Flip’s original wallet to another wallet.” Oyekan knowledgeable TechCabal {that a} migration kind has been shared with users to facilitate the transition to Blockfinex’s new pockets.

TechCabal has confirmed that such a kind was really shared on Twitter. In the submit, which was made on May 5, the corporate stated it’s going to migrate the stablecoins—$TUSD, $USDT, or $BUSD—from their Flip pockets to Blockfinex’s pockets inside 14 days. However, that didn’t occur. Conversations with prospects point out that some people nonetheless wouldn’t have access to their funds regardless of having accomplished the migration kind. One buyer nonetheless informed TechCabal that the shape doesn’t cater to individuals who had pending withdrawals from their accounts. “I requested a withdrawal of 50 USDT from my Flip to my local bank on May 11 and till now the transaction has been pending, even though it has been deducted from my Flip. Now my balance is just 0.22 USDT and there is no provision for that issue in the form. There is someone whose money has been pending since April too. We raised this matter on the Telegram channel but got no response.” 

Oyekan acknowledged the communication hole on Telegram, stating, “We have primarily been engaging with users who reach out to us on Twitter, inadvertently neglecting those on Telegram.” He additionally defined that “The migration is taking so long because Flip’s wallets are indexed wallets so we have to go through them one by one to match them to each user and migrate them manually. Today, the previous management tried a bit to help us fix the issue. ” A supply near the matter revealed to TechCabal that the delay could also be as a result of insufficient data switch from Flip’s former operators. The supply recommended that the state of affairs might need been completely different if the previous operators had been extra useful with the migration. 

Given the complexities of the acquisition of Fluidcoins, it’s comprehensible that there might need been communication gaps between the earlier house owners of Flip and Blockfinex. However, Lanre who initially based Fluidcoins, and spoke to TechCabal, confirmed ongoing communication with the Blockfinex crew and offered emails as proof. He said, “I am unsure if a migration is taking place, but I have been and still am available to help with any issues they reach out to me about.”

Oyekan, alternatively, informed TechCabal that the migration is certainly happening. “We are determined to quickly resolve the matter and eventually shut down the Flip app. We acquired Fluidcoins for the B2B aspect and not the B2C,” he stated.