Hedgehog shutdown • letter 150

Hello friends, it’s Colton here, the CEO of Hedgehog, the app that helps you buy baskets of cryptocurrency and automate your digital asset exposure wherever you custody funds. I have sad news to report and there’s no good way to sugarcoat it: Hedgehog can no longer sustain itself and will be shutting down at the end of the month.

I will be sharing instructions on how to proceed in offboarding your funds or transitioning your account at the end of this email, but the short version amounts to liquidating your stack and withdrawing your cash to one of the new basket products at Uphold, or otherwise initiating a process with Gemini to transition to a self-directed account on their platform and withdrawing your crypto directly from their site. If you have created and funded an MPC wallet, you can claim the other shard of your private key directly from Capsule at any time.

We are incredibly proud to have served you and to have built a great product that many of you love, and we believe that a product just like ours will one day onboard millions more to web3, but ultimately we feel that the regulatory environment under Biden and Gensler has not been kind to small, US-based investment advisors working with digital assets, and now when combined with the declining macro environment we fear we just won’t be able to ride it out until the economy turns around and crypto starts roaring again.

If you are interested in the Hedgehog technology, we will be holding an auction for the IP and assets next week, and I will be happy to send you an invite. Just reply to this email indicating your interest.

To each of you, thank you for reading our newsletters and for trusting Hedgehog with your assets. We are grateful for all your feedback and for your interest in the nascent digital asset sector, and we hope you will use this opportunity as we shutdown to explore the world of self-custody and onchain apps. There’s a lot to love and learn about out there.

Withdrawing USD

We will be operating our servers until August 31, 2024 at 11:59pm PT, at which time you will no longer be able to access the Hedgehog app. If you wish to use the Hedgehog app to withdraw, you must liquidate your stack and withdraw funds before then.

If you do not liquidate your stack and withdraw USD before this time, or if you wish to withdraw cryptocurrency directly, you must transition to a self-directed Gemini account to access your funds, as described under the next heading. If you do not withdraw before we shut off our servers, your funds will still be safe at Gemini or in your MPC wallet, you will just have to follow the instructions under the next headings.

To withdraw your funds in USD, please follow these instructions:

• Select the “manager” tab from the bottom menu
• Select your Managed Portfolio
• Select the stack you wish to withdraw from
• Select the settings (gear icon) in the top right corner of the app
• Select the “liquidate stack” menu item
• Select US Dollar from the currency selector and tap the 100% button
• Slide the yellow slider to confirm your liquidation
• Confirm that all the trades were successful. Sometimes you may have to liquidate additional currencies manually if there is insufficient liquidity at the exchange
• Return back to the main manager screen and select the hamburger menu icon from the top left
• Select the withdraw icon
• Select cash
• If you have not connected a bank account, proceed to connect an account, otherwise select the connected bank
• Select the appropriate account at your bank and select “Next”
• Select the appropriate Hedgehog balance to withdraw from, note the amount remaining, and select “Next”
• Select the amount field, enter the amount from the previous section, and select “done,” then “Next”
• Verify the details of the transaction are correct, and the withdrawal amount is less than or equal to your balance, then slide to confirm the transaction
• And you have withdrawn your funds! Expect them to hit your account within three (3) business days

Withdrawing In-Kind Assets

In order to withdraw digital assets from Hedgehog without converting into fiat, you will need to complete the following steps:

• If you don’t already have a self-directed Gemini account, open up an account at https://exchange.gemini.com/register.
• Email Gemini Client Services at institutional@gemini.com and CC Hedgehog at support@hedgehog.app using the following email template and subject line:
  • Subject: "Hedgehog - Gemini Account Recovery"
    "Gemini Institutional Support,
    
    Please transfer all cryptocurrency funds from my Hedgehog account to my Gemini retail account associated with this email address."
• Once Gemini processes your request, the funds should be transferred within 8 business days.
• Note: Personal trading accounts are subject to the Standard Gemini fee schedule. Should you have any questions about the transfers or the process, please contact Hedgehog at support@hedgehog.app. Gemini Support is also available at institutional@gemini.com.

Retrieving your MPC key shards

If you created an MPC wallet with Hedgehog and Capsule, you can follow the instructions to import your wallet using a MetaMask Snap at https://docs.usecapsule.com/metamask/user-guide or if you feel confident in managing the key shards directly, you can follow their instructions for key recovery at https://docs.usecapsule.com/users/faq#backup-and-recovery.

Migrating to an alternative portfolio manager

We have partnered with Uphold to provide an alternative asset basket product to help replace Hedgehog as we shut down. While we can’t offer you the same great tools you’ve come to know and love, we honestly believe that Uphold is the next best thing. Hedgehog will receive compensation if you choose to use the link attached to the banner below, but if you feel we don’t deserve the referral fee, you can always sign up separately at https://uphold.com. We do not sell your information to anyone, and Uphold will only receive the information that you give them directly.

Thank you in advance if you choose to use the referral link, as the proceeds will go toward paying off our taxes and shutdown costs.

Truly, thank you all for giving us a chance. It has been an honor to help some of you buy and sell cryptocurrency, and I hope that you will continue to participate more fully in this blossoming experiment in decentralization we call web3 and proselytize its power and potential to your friends and beyond. If you have any problems while migrating away from Hedgehog, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Keep hedging,
— Colton