In September, FTX US received a winning bid to buy the assets of controversial crypto brokerage Voyager Digital with a bid of nearly $1.4 billion. The bid consisted of the fair market value of Voyager’s crypto holdings “on a date to be determined in the future.”
According to Voyager, the fair value of the property, at current market prices, was estimated at $1.3 billion, and the deal included an “additional consideration” estimated to be worth about $111 million.
Since then, new details about the case have emerged, with court documents showing that the money paid to Voyager Digital itself was only $51 million. The $1.31 billion FTX offered for Voyager’s crypto holdings will be distributed to eligible credits on a pro-rata basis, according to filings.
As a result, the $111 million included in the deal is split between $51 million paid for Voyager’s assets, intellectual property and user base, and $60 million made up of an accrued account balance of $50 for each user who comes on board FEX and $20 million in profits.
Voyager users are looking for answers
As news of FTX’s winning bid streams through court documents and other scarce sources, users of the bankrupt company continue to search for answers, organizing via social media to gather as much information as possible.
Initial calculations made by users considering Voyager’s balance sheet suggested that users who switch to FTX can expect to see more than 30% haircut on their properties. For some, seeing any kind of return is better than not seeing anything after the platform crashes.
Voyager Digital’s balance sheet. Source: Reddit, Sedar
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fred said his offerings are “generally set at fair market value,” as the company purchases assets to give back to customers.
Voyager’s problems arose after the company made a $670 million loan to the hedge fund Crypto Three Arrows Capital, which defaulted in late June. FTX’s offer ruled out Three Arrows Capital’s loan.
As it stands, it appears that users who wish to reclaim their assets will have to flock to FTX trading platforms if the deal is approved by a court. As a result, Voyager will come to an end while the FTX user base swells exponentially.
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For users who may soon move to FTX, there are some concerns they should be aware of if they choose to stay on the new platform.
FTX offers its users a earning program that allows them to earn interest on their crypto holdings, albeit with annual returns that are usually lower than those users receive on other crypto lending platforms, including Voyager.
Unfortunate FDIC Insurance
Before Voyager Digital went under, regulators ordered it to remove “false and misleading statements” that users’ deposits are insured by the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as if they were normal savings accounts.
In a joint letter, Seth Rosebrock and Jason Gonzalez, assistant general counsel at the FDIC, suggested that Voyager’s representations “may be misled and relied upon” by customers who put money on the platform.
While FTX is being seen as a beacon of hope in an effort to stem contagion in the crypto industry after an influx of cash led to the collapse of several companies, the FDIC also warned against making “misleading” statements regarding the insurance status of users. deposit.
FTX has received a cease-and-desist letter from the FDIC to stop suggesting that user funds on the platform are insured. The letter specifies that FTX US President Brett Harrison said in a tweet that direct deposits from employers are held in FDIC-insured accounts with usernames.
While Harrison responded on social media by saying that he deleted the post and did not mean to indicate that the cryptocurrency stored in FTX is insured by the FDIC, his comments could have misled users who flocked for security.
