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Major cryptocurrency broker Voyager Digital Ltd. has filed for bankruptcy protection, becoming the second major company to file during the recent volatility in the crypto market after the collapse of Three Arrows Capital.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late Tuesday, a mere week after it suspended withdrawals, deposits and trading on its platform. At the same time, the company issued a notice that the hedge fund Three Arrows Capital had defaulted on a $650 million loan.
According to the filing, the company could be facing anywhere between $1 billion and $10 billion in asset liabilities to more than 100,000 creditors.
“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,” Stephen Ehrlich, chief executive of Voyager Digital, said on Twitter.
The Chapter 11 filing will allow the company to implement a proposed plan to restructure its accounts without liquidating assets while management remains in control.
Ehrlich went on to explain that the proposed “Plan of Reorganization” would open up account access for users. It would also work to return value lost to customers by providing customers a combination of crypto based on what they had in their accounts, proceeds from the Three Arrows Capital recovery, common shares in the newly restructured company and Voyager tokens.
He also explained that any customers with U.S. dollars in their accounts would be able to access those funds after “a reconciliation and fraud prevention process is completed with Metropolitan Commercial Bank.”
As part of its current legal remedies, the company is currently seeking court-supervised processes against Three Arrows Capital’s assets in the British Virgin Islands and New York in order to make its customers whole again.
“During the reorganization, we’ll maintain operations,” Erlich said. “We intend to certain customer programs without disruption. Trading, deposits, withdrawals and loyalty rewards on the Voyager platform remain temporarily suspended.”
Voyager Digital’s troubles come after the entire crypto market has been thrown into turmoil during a lengthy downturn. In May, TerraUSD, a stablecoin designed to keep parity with the U.S. dollar, and its sister cryptocurrency Luna went into a death spiral that saw Luna lose 99% of its value. The resulting crash sent shockwaves through the market.
One month later, major cryptocurrency lender Celsius paused withdrawals citing “extreme” conditions in the markets, after which the price of the company’s native token, CEL, crashed by 50%.
Voyager Digital late last month signed a deal with the trading firm Alameda Ventures, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, chief executive of the largest cryptocurrency exchange FTX, for a $500 million revolving line of credit. It was also revealed that Alameda is Voyager Digital’s single largest creditor, according to a report from Reuters, with $75 million in unsecured loans.
Earlier this month, FTX US, the U.S. affiliate of FTX, also signed an agreement to buy the embattled cryptocurrency company BlockFi for up to $240 million after offering a similar deal for a $400 million revolving line of credit, an increase from the original agreement $250 million on June 21.
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