Voyager Stock Plummets Nearly 12% as Crypto Firm Files for Bankruptcy

By Andrew Asmakov

Voyager Digital has become the second high-profile crypto firm to file for bankruptcy in recent days, joining the Singapore-based Three Arrows Capital (3AC) in doing so.

The New York-based firm and its two affiliates, Voyager Digital LLC and Voyager Digital Holdings, took the step in the Southern District of New York late on Tuesday, according to a filing.

Per the document, Voyager had more than 100,000 creditors and between $1 and $10 billion in assets, with the same range for its liabilities.

Voyager’s stock plunged by 11.93% as the news broke.

Last month, the company revealed it had a $661 million exposure to 3AC, a crypto hedge fund that failed to meet margin calls from several lenders and eventually filed for bankruptcy on July 2.

“We strongly believe in the future of the industry but the prolonged volatility in the crypto markets, and the default of Three Arrows Capital, require us to take this decisive action,” Digital Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich said on Twitter.

Voyager temporarily paused trading, deposits, and withdrawals last Friday, and is now coming up with a “Plan of Reorganization” that would “resume account access and return value to customers,” according to Ehrlich.

“Customers with crypto in their account(s) will receive in exchange a combination of the crypto in their account(s), proceeds from the 3AC recovery, common shares in the newly reorganized Company, and Voyager tokens,” said Ehrlich.

The Voyager boss added that while the firm is “actively pursuing all available remedies for recovery from 3AC,” it is in a position to confirm “that customers with USD deposits in their account(s) will receive access to those funds after a reconciliation and fraud prevention process is completed with Metropolitan Commercial Bank.”

What happened with Voyager?

Voyager Digital’s financial headwinds came amid a lengthy period of sell-offs in the crypto market, which—starting with the collapse of algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and its sister cryptocurrency LUNA in May—wiped out tens of billions of investors’ wealth.

Before all the dust from the Terra implosion fully settled, the industry faced another blow with crypto lending firm Celsius Network abruptly halting operations and withdrawals in June. 

Celsius’ move sent shockwaves across the markets, exposing the liquidity crisis faced by other high-profile firms, including Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Voyager, BlockFi, Genesis Trading, and Vauld. 

Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of crypto exchange FTX, eventually stepped in to provide Voyager with credit lines via Alameda Research, another company with which he’s associated.

Voyager’s filing lists $75 million of unsecured loans from Alameda, making the crypto trading firm the biggest single creditor.

FTX.US, the American division of FTX, is also expected to acquire BlockFi after the two firms reached an agreement to increase the size of the revolving line of credit from FTX to $400 million, up from the previously announced $250 million.

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