Voyager Digital auction: Bankrupt crypto lender’s asset sale details and timing
12:42, 15 September 2022
Results will be announced at the end of September of the auction for the remaining assets of Voyager Digital, the crypto lender that filed for bankruptcy in July.
A court document from the US bankruptcy court southern district of New York revealed that on 13 September, Moelis & Company, Voyager’s investment bank, held an auction for the crypto lender’s assets.
It will not be revealed who purchased the assets until 29 September.
Voyager’s lawyers said that there were 88 interested parties in the auction.
The interested parties have not yet been officially named, but both FTX and Binance have expressed an interest in Voyager’s assets.
‘Life savings’ frozen
Customers of Voyager who saw their "life savings" with the company frozen are hoping that this auction could lead to them getting some of their money back.
They have been unable to access their funds since 1 July after the crypto winter led to the lender suspending withdrawals and then its bankruptcy.
One investor, Ed Pilotte, told Bloomberg that he had put around $40,000 (£34,802) of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptos through Voyager after his brother told him crypto was “the way of the future”.
Pilotte’s mother also used the platform. Pilotte said: “We’re all on the edge of our seats now waiting for the bids. I didn’t think it would be trapped the way it is.”
Gary Piano, a 64-year-old man from Los Angeles, also invested around $40,000 in numerous cryptos via Voyager Digital. He told Bloomberg that once the drop in cryptos hit the market he tried to withdraw his remaining money but could not as his Voyager account was frozen. Piano was going to use the funds for a down-payment on a house, because of Voyager he has had to pull out of the purchase and pause his retirement plans.
Piano said: “I just can’t make any major financial moves right now. It’s changed my life. There’s a lot of anxiety over this, I have a hard time concentrating and I’ve lost my appetite.”
Voyager’s confusing claims
The crypto lender, via its marketing, claimed cash deposits were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which resulted in confused customers. Some clients assumed that their crypto deposits were also insured. However, despite Voyager itself being partnered with the FDIC-insured Metropolitan Commercial Bank, none of Voyager’s customers were protected.
The FDIC is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures credit unions.
Another customer, Lisa Dagnoli, told Bloomberg she had lost $1m on the Voyager platform and that she had placed a large amount of that on a stablecoin that was claimed to be FDIC insured.
The Voyager native token, Voyager Token (VGX) was down 3.23% to $0.68 today (15 September) after this news, according to CoinMarketCap.
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