It was nearly three years ago that Plastc burst onto the scene with promises of offering an advanced credit card that would surpass competitors like Coin. But today, the firm"s website offers a somber message to its backers that the product will not be coming to market and that the company has filed for bankruptcy.
No one can really know what went wrong with Plastc after its initial presale secured $5.2 million, but it seems at some point the firm ran out of money and even tried to secure more in February 2017 and April 2017. With both rounds of potential funding falling through, the only option was to shut down its operations. Sadly, with the turn of events, the company has had to let its staff go and has also shut down or discontinued use of its social media channels. Perhaps feeling the impending pressure and backlash, CEO of Plastc, Ryan Marquis has gone into hiding, deleting his Twitter and LinkedIn profiles.
What makes this situation a bit unique compared to other stories about Kickstarter or Indiegogo projects going bust, is that Plastc wasn"t a crowdfunded project at all. Instead, the firm built their own website to get the word out and fulfilled pre-orders for the product through its own website. While it is only a matter of time before the website shuts down for good, the company has left a parting message for its backers stating that they are "disappointed and emotionally distraught" and that they did everything they could to try and make it a reality.