Singapore-headquartered cross-border payments company Nium has acquired Cypher, a crypto-native non-custodial wallet and card issuing startup backed by Y Combinator and Coinbase Ventures. The deal, announced July 8, 2026, adds on-chain wallet and issuing expertise to Nium’s global payments platform as the company pushes deeper into stablecoin and digital asset infrastructure.
Key Facts At A Glance
- Nium is a cross-border payments infrastructure company co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore
- Cypher is a crypto-native non-custodial wallet and card issuing company backed by Y Combinator and Coinbase Ventures
- The deal was announced July 8, 2026
- Cypher founder Kuberan Marimuthu has joined Nium as Vice President of Digital Assets, reporting to CEO Prajit Nanu
- Cypher’s engineering team has also joined Nium
- Cypher’s existing consumer app, business card platform, and CYPR ecosystem will wind down, with services available until September 6, 2026
- The acquisition follows Nium’s earlier launch of a stablecoin-backed issuing product and expansion of its cross-border network to support stablecoin funding and settlement
- Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed
Deal Details And Strategic Rationale
Nium said the acquisition is intended to expand its platform’s ability to bridge fiat currency and digital asset payments, bringing in Cypher’s operational experience building products for crypto-native users. The company described the move as part of a broader effort to position itself as core infrastructure for a converging payments ecosystem that spans traditional money movement and blockchain-based value exchange.
Cypher, founded by Kuberan Marimuthu, had spent roughly four years building products at the intersection of on-chain and traditional banking before the acquisition. Marimuthu previously held engineering leadership roles in payments and risk at Coinbase, Amazon, and Zenefits. Following the deal, he has taken on the Vice President of Digital Assets role at Nium, and Cypher’s engineering team has transitioned to Nium as well.
Integration And Wind-Down Timeline
Cypher’s standalone consumer offerings, including its app and business card platform, are being wound down as the company’s technology and team are absorbed into Nium’s infrastructure. Existing Cypher users have been told their funds remain accessible and withdrawable without fees through September 6, 2026, after which the standalone platform will be discontinued.
Context Within Nium’s Digital Asset Strategy
The acquisition builds on steps Nium had already taken toward digital asset infrastructure, including the rollout of a stablecoin-backed card issuing product and an expansion of its payment network to support funding and settlement using stablecoins. Demand for these capabilities has reportedly grown among both consumer-facing Web3 companies and traditional fintechs expanding into digital assets.
Publicly available reporting on this deal is limited primarily to company and industry-press statements; independent financial terms or regulatory filings related to the transaction were not available at the time of writing.