Beleaguered crypto brokerage Voyager Digital has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, turning into the newest casualty of chaos in digital asset markets.
Voyager commenced bankruptcy proceedings within the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, based on a submitting from the corporate. The submitting lists belongings of between $1 billion and $10 billion, and liabilities in the identical vary.
In a press release, the corporate mentioned it has roughly $1.3 billion of crypto on its platform and holds greater than $350 million in money on behalf of consumers at New York’s (*11*) Commercial Bank.
Voyager suffered enormous losses from its publicity to crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, which went bust final week after defaulting on loans from quite a few companies within the business — together with $650 million from Voyager.
“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,” Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich mentioned in a tweet early Wednesday.
The Toronto-listed firm’s shares have misplaced almost 98% of their worth for the reason that begin of 2022.
Voyager says it’s nonetheless pursuing the restoration of funds from Three Arrows Capital, or 3AC because it’s in any other case recognized, together with by court-supervised proceedings within the British Virgin Islands and New York.
Last week, Voyager paused all withdrawals, deposits and buying and selling on its platform as a consequence of “current market conditions.” Ehrlich on the time mentioned Voyager was searching for extra time to discover “strategic alternatives with various interested parties.”
Several different corporations, together with Celsius, Babel Finance and Vauld, have taken comparable steps. On Tuesday, Vauld obtained a takeover supply from Nexo, a rival firm, after suspending its providers.
The crypto market is grappling with a extreme liquidity disaster as platforms battle to fulfill a flood of withdrawals from prospects amid a pointy fall in digital foreign money costs.
The declines in crypto began with a broad fall in dangerous belongings because the Federal Reserve launched into financial tightening, and gathered tempo following the collapse of Terra, a so-called stablecoin enterprise that was value round $60 billion at its peak.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest token, had its worst month on file in June, plunging 38%. Investors are bracing for a for much longer downturn in digital currencies referred to as a “crypto winter.”
Restructuring plan
Voyager mentioned the bankruptcy proceedings would permit it to implement a restructuring course of in order that prospects may be reimbursed.
If all goes based on plan, customers would obtain a mixture of crypto of their accounts, proceeds from the restoration of funds from Three Arrows Capital, shares of the newly reorganized firm and Voyager tokens.
Clients with U.S. greenback deposits will regain entry to their funds as soon as a reconciliation and fraud prevention course of with (*11*) Commercial Bank is full, Voyager mentioned.
Alameda Research, the quant buying and selling store of billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, had prolonged Voyager a line of credit score value $500 million in money and crypto final month in a futile try to tide the corporate over.
Alameda was listed as Voyager’s largest creditor within the bankruptcy submitting Tuesday, with an unsecured declare of $75 million.
Bankman-Fried, who additionally based crypto alternate FTX, has grow to be a lender of final resort for the troubled business. He lately agreed to a deal giving FTX the choice to purchase crypto lending firm BlockFi for as much as $240 million — a dramatic drawdown from the $3 billion it was final privately valued at.
Some have likened Bankman-Fried’s efforts to the function performed by well-known banker John Pierpont, or J.P., Morgan in rescuing Wall Street lenders from collapse after a collection of financial institution runs referred to as the Panic of 1907, which preceded the institution of the Fed.
