Chrysophylax,
That is awesome you are trying to work with Zapple... I have been a client of them for years and was sad to hear they were closing. I really had hopes they would grow. I only found out in early December that the exchange was shutting down on the 31st of Dec, and we had until the 31 of Jan to withdraw our funds. I ordered some hard wallets directly from the manufacturers earlier in the month to remove my coins from the Zapple Exchange. The wallets arrived around 2 days ago (shipped from Europe, so they took a few weeks to arrive). I planned to get in there and remove what I could by the end of the day yesterday the 28th. I knew that I had until the 31st, but was still trying to get them off the exchange before then.
Well, lo and behold zapple.com is completely gone from the internet. I was shocked and wondered why they shutdown earlier than they said they would have..... I thought I had until the 31st. Anyhow I combed through my email and found this unseen email from them sent to me on Jan 15th explaining they had to shut down earlier than expected. The letter was stating to remove everything by the 17th:
Hello,
As you are aware Zapple has shutdown normal operations. Due to UK law change on 1st January we were unable to keep operating without licenses which were not financially viable. We were hoping to operate in withdraw-only mode until 31st January but it has come to our attention this is also not possible.
Please request any withdrawals by 12:00 GMT of 17th January. Zapple will be prematurely shutting down at this time. Any withdrawals submitted after this time will not be processed.
Please note that several withdrawals are currently stalled due to our extremely limited support team and technical issues at the moment. If you have requested a withdrawal and not received the confirmation code for it – we will process it. If you have requested a withdrawal and its stuck pending – this will be sorted by our team.
The key message here is ensure any withdrawals are requested by 12:00 GMT on 17th January.
Regards,
Guy Powell
Now- I of course wish I had seen this when it was sent and only had a 2 day window to remove the coins... I'd have tried to figure out something... Unfortunately, I don't know what my options are now. I am wondering who holds my coins now, where they will be going, and how I can get them back. I can prove ownership of my coins, just hoping that whomever takes over will be able to return what is mine... or even if the founder of Zapple would return them to me - I know they're still sitting there in the exchange's wallet. The email address "support@zapple,com" is totally dead, so I have no point of contact for them anymore at all. Do you have any idea of what I should do or how to claim my coins?
Thank you very much in advance for any help -
Mr B
Hi MrBungle ...
I sympathize with you. It is unfortunate that Zapple had to be killed, but as Guy Powell mentioned a while back, there are certain things in the regulatory process that needs to be adhered to, and Zapple the Company, let alone the Exchange, were the things that had to be terminated. In the process, negotiations proceeded though not with just us.
I would have to say that direct contact with Guy is the best (and only) option now. He is available on Discord and on here in BitCoinTalk as well. I have made contact with him also today to see if there can be any resolve to any outstanding issues, and I will keep you up to date when he responds.
Guy always dealt with ANYONE with respect and honesty and I am convinced he is NOT someone that will 'take off' with funds, as is the case in many vectors of Crypto/Exchanges. If contact can be made, I would suggest you make it direct with him in any way shape or form. In our (my) dealings with Guy, he has always been transparent, upfront and concise about what he speaks, and has never held back on help. Neither him nor his 'team'.
Negotiations on our end were always about keeping Zapple Exchange going, not the company. We always wanted an internal exchange that was quick, solid and we could build on. We have never been interested in the 'Money/Cash' side of it, in fact, still no tinterested in it. Just the operation and continuance of the Exchnage itself. We have the InfraStructure and Developmental capacity to keep it going. Guy and I have discussed at length regarding this. Even though Guy has mentioned many times over in our conversations about the two main concerns he has for the Exchange/Company, which were Legals and Support moreover the continuation of the development of the software, there was always one sticking point. Money!
Guy has always mentioned that Money was not the issue, yet a price was ALWAYS put on the Exchange. We cannot put forward the type of Money that was asked for the purchase of the Exchange code. That sort of money asked meant we would not be able to reinvest the cashflow into any other part of our Company. Other options were discussed and are, as far as I am aware, still available for licensing of the code and WhiteLabelling to rebrand for monthly costs. Again, we will not go down that avenue because of how flaky that can become, as we want a solid codebase to work from and build. So even though 'Money' is supposedly never an issue, a price was always put on the CodeBase for Zapple Exchange. Understandable from Guy's point of view for all the work Guy and his team put in to build it, but not a viable path for CWI to take on if it meant our Company was at risk financially. hence the reason Guy has been negotiating with other interested parties who may have th efunds, or inclination to pay.
I am STILL happy to take on the CodeBase and rebuild with our Developers, and take on any legals involved, but the cost needs to be viable. Maybe Guy and I can come to some arrangement for payments made every quarter or something if an agreed price is negotiated, but so far nothing has eventuated.
This current situation results in three things.
1 - Guy has the last say in what happens with Zapple, not us, as he still owns the CodeBase AND the Wallets.
2 - Guy needs to be contacted direct which would be possible if and when he can answer eMails/DM/PM or IM messages, as he is the only one left in the 'team' from what I understand, though I could be wrong.
3 - A deal needs to be struck with Guy and I (CWI) for the possibility of a resurrection of the Exchange and Wallets. So far, nothing has changed.
I will reiterate though, Guy has ALWAYS been on the Straight and Narrow with us, and has ALWAYS put his best foot forward. The regulators and Laws as well as the COVID19 Headaches that have been with us this last year (and will be for the foreseeable future) meant that when Guy said 'Zapple is going nowhere', he meant
. There were issues, there still are, and will continue to be.
Your coins are in the Zapple Wallets, and therefore we can only do what you do. Ask for them. I am certain Guy will be helpful in that regard.
Let me know what happens - either here or Discord, or even Skype.
#crysx