Solflare Co-founder Vidor: Card Services Suspended Due to Partner Issues
Solflare co-founder Vidor stated that the Solflare Card has suspended operations starting today due to solvency issues with its card issuing partner Kulipa.
He emphasized the safety of user funds, as the card uses an end-to-end self-custody model, directly deducting from users' wallets without requiring deposits, and the issuer does not hold any user funds; the team had assisted in finding a buyer but was unsuccessful, and a new version of the card is in development, which will support Apple Pay and Google Pay, higher limits, and cashback, expected to launch in a few weeks while maintaining self-custody.
After the risk exposure of the card issuing partner, funds and users are concentrated towards genuine self-custody payment solutions, benefiting wallet projects capable of independent wallet deductions, while products relying on centralized issuers face pressure.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Since the launch of the Card, Solflare has consistently emphasized the "end-to-end self-custody" design, deliberately rejecting the traditional "deposit to issuer account" model; the collapse of Kulipa validates the protective effect of this architecture when a partner goes bankrupt, as user assets did not enter bankruptcy liquidation proceedings.
In terms of capital pathways, crypto payment cards heavily rely on the compliance and clearing capabilities of traditional issuing institutions; once a partner faces solvency issues, service interruptions occur; the self-custody model isolates funding risks from issuing risks, allowing wallet projects to switch partners more quickly and launch upgraded versions, with resources leaning towards infrastructures capable of rapid replacement.
Similar pathways can be seen where early crypto debit cards were suspended multiple times due to partner banks or issuers exiting: the safety of user funds depends on whether "real-time deductions from wallets at the time of consumption" are truly achieved. Current self-custody payment cards are still in the "verifying risk resilience" stage.
Essentially, this is a technological replacement: when the risks of third-party partnerships are exposed by real events, the market directly replaces reliance on centralized issuers with architectural design.
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