Coinbase-backed crypto firewall Harpie shuts down over business model struggles

Harpie, a service aimed at preventing wallet theft and hacks, has shut down after struggling to develop a sustainable business model.

Harpie, an on-chain firewall provider backed by Coinbase Ventures and OpenSea, has shut down its services as the startup failed to create a “sustainable business” model around a “theft-free crypto ecosystem,” it said in an X thread on Thursday, March 27.

The company, which worked to protect crypto users from hacks, scams, and theft, shared in the post that it hopes to have made an “impact” and inspired other companies to “take that torch and solve this tough problem.”

According to the announcement, Harpie’s services would be shut down immediately, and users were instructed to disconnect their wallets from the Harpie RPC using their wallet’s network switcher.

“If your transactions are failing, please disconnect your wallets from the Harpie RPC via your wallet’s network switcher. We will be creating a utility to move vaulted assets on the Harpie website in the coming days.”

Harpie

Even with the shutdown, Harpie made sure to let everyone know that all pending giveaways and rewards from its referral program would still be honored.

The shutdown comes nearly three years after Harpie raised $4.5 million in a funding round led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and OpenSea. Initially, the startup’s business model charged a 7% fee on any recovered asset, according to Harpie’s whitepaper. However, over time, Harpie shifted to a fixed fee of 0.01 ETH per asset, regardless of the amount recovered.