Cypher

Cypher is a crypto payments company that built a non-custodial crypto card together with a wallet application and dApp. The dApp lets users track balances across 15 or more chains, swap tokens, manage the Cypher Card and claim $CYPR rewards, and can be accessed by connecting an external wallet or signing in; wallet addresses or ENS names can also be tracked [2]. Alongside the consumer product, Cypher operated a business card platform and a business portal for balances and statements [0]. Its Y Combinator profile describes the company as a crypto neo-bank whose thesis is that consumer financial apps remain country-specific while stablecoins make finance global, allowing a user anywhere to open an account in the app within minutes, transact with a crypto card and send USDC internationally [7].

The company's own About page frames the product as combining in-app swaps, cross-chain bridges and a non-custodial card so that users retain control of their assets while spending [4]. A token, $CYPR, issued on the Base chain, formed a rewards layer: users earned $CYPR on Cypher Card purchases, and the ecosystem included locking CYPR, veCYPR holdings, voting, referrals and per-merchant allocations across epochs [3]. Cypher states its wallet app, its Autoload feature and the Cypher protocol were each security-audited by OAK Security [4].

In 2026 Cypher announced it had been acquired by Nium and began a staged wind-down of the consumer app, business card platform and CYPR ecosystem. Card loading and new card issuance ended 2026-07-08, a final rewards distribution occurred 2026-07-16, cards were canceled 2026-08-08 at 00:00 UTC, and the mobile app, dApp and business platform, the withdrawal and rewards-claim windows, and the CYPR protocol and token ecosystem were set to end on 2026-09-06. Users were told funds could be withdrawn without fees before that date, and support was to remain available until shutdown [0][1].

Founding story

Y Combinator lists Cypher as founded in 2021 with Kuberan Marimuthu as founder, previously an engineering leader at Coinbase, Amazon and Zenefits and the builder of spoturtrain.com, which he scaled to about two million monthly active users; he is described as a third-time founder [7]. The company's own About page dates the founding to 2022, saying that at the time crypto cards were rare and the term "neobank" was not yet part of Web3 vocabulary, and that swapping, bridging and custody trade-offs made everyday crypto spending complicated [4].

Business model

Cypher offered a consumer crypto card and wallet plus a business card platform, with a plans/subscription tier structure referenced in site navigation and a token-based rewards program ($CYPR) paid on card spending; the material available does not specify pricing or fee levels [0][3].

Not specified in the available sources beyond references to paid plans and a charge for physical cards (the wind-down FAQ addresses refunds for paid physical cards) [0].

Traction

Y Combinator lists a team size of 12 and Active status on its company page [7]. The sources provide no user, transaction or revenue figures.

Latest developments

Cypher announced it had been acquired by Nium and is sunsetting. Wind-down began 2026-07-08 with card loading disabled and card issuance ended; the final $CYPR rewards distribution covering spending from July 2-16 was made on 2026-07-16; all cards close 2026-08-08 at 00:00 UTC; and on 2026-09-06 the mobile app, dApp and business platform go offline, withdrawal and rewards claims close, and the CYPR protocol and token ecosystem are permanently wound down. Users are directed to withdraw balances, claim rewards, back up wallet keys and download records before that date, with support available until shutdown [0][1].