Crypto card startup Kulipa suddenly shuts down after issuing 120K...

Crypto card startup Kulipa suddenly shuts down after issuing 120K cards, leaving 20 partners including Solflare and Ready scrambling.

Kulipa, a company that issued crypto payment cards, abruptly closed. It had issued 120,000 cards and worked with wallet providers like Ready and Solflare. The cards stopped working because the card issuer partnered with an insolvent company. No user funds were lost because all card purchases were paid directly from users' crypto wallets.

What happened

Crypto payment startup Kulipa has abruptly shut down after issuing about 120,000 crypto payment cards and serving 20 clients, according to community reports. The closure disrupted wallet partners including Ready and Solflare, leaving some users without access to their card channels.

Why it matters for the market

Kulipa had completed a $6.2 million seed round and announced the funding on April 1, claiming 70% month-over-month growth and naming the United States as its next target market. Public transaction tracking shows card volume peaked at $9 million in January, then fell to $4.14 million in June and $1.84 million in July, the month operations stopped.

Earlier signs emerged in December 2025, when the funding round quietly ended and the Bank of Lithuania fined Kulipa's card issuer Monavate €270,000 and barred it from continuing to serve Kulipa. In June, Kulipa moved to a Europe-only issuer, and Ready cut off non-EEA users with roughly one hour's notice.

By late July, the situation worsened. Ready told users on July 22 that existing cards would be deactivated because it was switching issuers. On July 28, Solflare said its cards stopped operating that day, blaming a partner winding down due to solvency issues and saying the debt was too heavy. The next day, Ready's card plan also stopped, with the company saying it received no notice.

Notably, no user funds were lost. Both card programs paid directly from users' crypto wallets at the point of purchase, meaning there were no funds sitting with the card issuer to freeze or recover. Ready alone lost 42% of its transaction volume in June after the EEA cutoff, highlighting how dependent wallet providers were on Kulipa's issuer relationship.

What traders should watch

For the broader market, the incident illustrates the operational fragility of some crypto payment infrastructure. While the immediate financial damage to users appears limited, sudden issuer switches and partner shutdowns can create volatility in sentiment around affected projects and remind traders to watch concentration risk in crypto card integrations.