The startup behind digital bartering app Bunz appears to be scaling back quite a bit after cutting back on staff and digital currency.
Bunz started out as a private Facebook group called “Bunz Trading Zone,” and since its origin, it has served as a platform for Torontonians to trade goods and services without the use of cash. After some pretty explosive growth, Bunz announced last spring that it was launching its very own digital currency called BTZ, and by September of 2018, over 130 million BTZ were in circulation.
BUNZ has informed makers that all non-food vendors are being paid up and removed from the app as of yesterday. The user base was not given notice to cash out BTZ into Canadian Currency before this happened. pic.twitter.com/74neiBEvuv
— Deidre Olsen (@DeidreLOlsen) September 11, 2019
Over 200 Toronto businesses like The Drake General Store, Bar Neon, and more were accepting said currency as money. Now, Bunz has scaled back BTZ, with only food and coffee shops left for users to purchase things with the currency. Additionally, on Wednesday, the company announced that it was laying off 15 staff members.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience and disappointment this may have caused and want to keep you informed as to why we had to make this decision,” Bunz CEO Sascha Mojtahedi wrote. “The reality we face is that it’s expensive to build and maintain a platform that hundreds of thousands of people use every day. Reducing the merchant list was necessary to continue Bunz and BTZ for the community.”
Image via Flickr/Noo