Key Takeaways
- Bankrupt crypto firm Voyager Digital says that it is requesting court permission to allow users to access their balances.
- In an unrelated development, FTX has offered to allow Voyager customers to make withdrawals through its own platform.
- Voyager has an existing relationship with FTX and Alameda Research but has not said whether it will accept that offer.
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Voyager and FTX have put forward complementary plans that could help users regain access to their account balances.
Voyager Inches Toward Withdrawals
Voyager suspended withdrawals on July 1, leaving customers without access to their balances for three weeks.
Now, bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings could allow customers to regain access to their account balances. Voyager says that one of its latest filings seeks court approval to allow customers to withdraw their funds.
Those funds consist of USD balances stored in For Benefit Of (FBO) accounts at Metropolitan Commercial Bank.
Voyager said it plans to process user withdrawal requests in the ordinary course of action. However, this plan depends on the results of the next court hearing on Aug. 4.
The firm also provided a funding update. It said that it is asking the court for permission to sell Coinify, a company that it acquired last year. It added that it previously received court approval to pay employees and other operating costs.
FTX Proposes Joint Withdrawal Plan
Alongside Voyager’s plans, FTX has offered to allow withdrawals through its own platform cooperatively.
Under that proposal, FTX sister company Alameda Research would purchase Voyager’s digital assets and digital asset loans in cash at fair market value.
Voyager users could then access their funds by opening an FTX account. This would be optional, and customers who choose to participate could withdraw their balance as cash without using FTX’s other services. Alternatively, users could continue to invest in crypto with fees waived for the first month.
FTX distinguished its offer from Voyager’s plan as detailed above, noting that it “recognize[s] that Voyager may have other ways to provide customers with liquidity” via FBO accounts and that it would include or exclude those accounts as necessary.
Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, said that Voyager’s customers “did not choose to be bankruptcy investors holding unsecured claims.” He explained that his offer is meant to “establish a better way to resolve an insolvent crypto business.”
Bankman-Fried previously has come to Voyager’s rescue. In June, his other company, Alameda Research, loaned Voyager $485 million of cash and crypto. That loan was made after Three Arrows Capital (3AC) defaulted on a loan of a similar value.
FTX has said that its current offer would not involve FTX acquiring loans or litigation claims from Voyager related to Three Arrows Capital. It said that Voyager would continue to pursue those matters itself.
FTX has requested a response by July 26 and says that it aims to close the deal by early August. Voyager, for its part, has not commented on whether it will accept the offer.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and other cryptocurrencies.
