Crypto Exchange FTX Will Acquire The Assets of Bankrupt Crypto Lender Voyager

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried

On Monday, bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital announced that crypto exchange FTX will be acquiring its assets. The deal came via a bid valued at $1.42 billion that FTX won at the auction for Voyager’s assets.

The recent development came after crypto lender Voyager went bankrupt after several occurrences in the crypto market that affected virtually all crypto-associated companies and endeavors. Other crypto lenders such as Celsius also reported that they had gone bankrupt within the same period.

In a statement issued by Voyager, FTX’s bid includes a fair market valuation of all its cryptocurrencies at a date yet to be determined (the current market price leaves the estimate at $1.31 billion) and an estimated consideration estimated as providing about $111 million of incremental value.

Voyager also mentioned that its claims against hedge fund Three Arrows Capital will stay with the bankruptcy estate, which will distribute any available recovery on such claims to the estate’s creditors.

The company’s decision to sell its assets came after it failed to make the required payments on a loan of 15,250 Bitcoin. It then issues a notice of default to the Singapore-based hedge fund in June. The company had also blatantly rejected a bailout offer from Sam Bankman-Fried-owned FTX. Voyager said that the proposal was a “low-ball bid dressed up as a white knight rescue.” The company added that this would have also disrupted its bankruptcy process.

In its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in July, Voyager estimated that it had over 100,000 creditors and between $1 billion and $10 billion in assets, as well as liabilities of the same value. Voyager also announced last week that its Chief Financial Officer Ashwin Prithipaul was preparing to step down from his role within months of his appointment at the crypto lender.

The peak period for crypto lenders like Voyagers was during the Covid-19 pandemic. They lured in users with high-interest rates on their deposits and easy access when compared to traditional banks to loan seekers. This boom was however truncated by the occurrences in the crypto market that sent the price of various cryptocurrencies plummeting.