[FDIC Cash Update] Crypto App ‘Voyager’ Halts Withdrawals & Rewards

Update 8/5/22: The court approved the proposal to restore fund to those who were holding cash in the FDIC insured bank. Funds should become available on Thursday, August 11th. More details in this Voyager blogpost. All other money like crypto, stablecoins, etc, is still up in the air.

Update 7/11/22: You can see Voyager’s update here. Briefly: USD seem like it’ll be recovered completely since they are held separate in a FDIC account (“subject to a reconciliation and fraud prevention process”). Crypto and stablecoins will be distributed pro-rate; we don’t have hard numbers yet on what this means practically:

Under Voyager’s proposed reorganization plan that was presented on Friday, which is subject to change and requires Court approval, customers will receive a combination of the following, with the ability to select the proportion of crypto and common equity they receive, subject to certain maximum thresholds:

  1. Pro-rata share of crypto;

  2. Pro-rata share of proceeds from the 3AC recovery;

  3. Pro-rata share of common shares in the newly reorganized Company; and

  4. Pro-rata share of existing Voyager tokens.

Update 7/6/22: Voyager has now filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy which allows reorganizing of debt, meaning they aren’t going out of business but they can shed some debt. Here’s their press release. I’m not an expert on this, but my quick understanding from the release is this: People will lose some percentage of their crypto deposits (including stablecoins), we don’t know how much. Those who had US dollars will eventually get access to all of their funds without losing anything.

Original Post 7/1/22:

Yet another crypto app is having difficulties now, with the Voyager app ‘temporarily’ halting the ability to withdraw funds. The debit card will also stop working, and trading or depositing into the app is halted as well.

They’re also stopping to pay rewards, so any money you have sitting there (until they hopefully begin allowing withdrawals) will not be rewarded. They will give out rewards for June and prior.

The issue revolves around a $350M USDC loan that Voyager granted to Three Arrows Capital which has fallen to liquidation, and more than 15,000 BTC loaned to them as well.

Lots of us have a Voyager account from their $50 or other referral offer or their 9% debit card.

 
    Chuck
  • On August 5, 2022, 15:20
Tags: cryptovoyager

View Comments (252)

  • I got an email about a '30 day window' to withdraw my Crypto by logging into the application and transferring it off their platform to a wallet. If we don't transfer coins then they will liquidate and send you US Dollars at a later date, but they encourage you to transfer out now. I have some USDC at Voyager, but not any other coins. Anyone else in this same situation? I have a Gemeni account that I don't use but I guess I could transfer it there.

    Has anyone transferred your coins yet? Have any advice on where to transfer to?
    Thanks in advance.

    • Just transferred the bitcoin that they allowed me to withdraw to coinbase. I would suggest transferring to a US firm

      • @guest_1640730
        I logged in to Coinbase on my pc and Voyager on my phone.
        When I try scanning the QR code for Coinbase (receiving USDC) I keep getting Invalid address from the Voyager app. after I swipe Right to transfer.
        Obviously I don't do this much. From the Coinbase side I hit "send/receive", selected USDC, Ethereum network, and there is a QR code to scan and an address too.
        Is there anything you can tell that I am doing wrong. Thanks.

        • @guest_1640697
          Coinbase won't charge you to sell your USDC. I believe that Gemini charges.

          And this is in the Voyager email:
          Important: If you are transferring to a Coinbase wallet, please copy and paste the receiving wallet address. Do not use the QR code scanner function. We understand there may be a QR code scanner issue that we expect to be resolved with an app update in the coming days.

      • Did you get an email saying the withdrawal was processed?
        Have you done other withdrawals before this?

        Mine still says pending, and I didn't get an email yet saying it was processed. I haven't done a withdrawal before this, and I wonder if that causes a delay.

        • I did not get an email indicating that withdrawal is in-process, but as mentioned above, the funds were deposited into my bank account within a couple of days (the account link had already existed in my account if that makes any difference).

          Also, the email from Voyager did indicate that the limit for withdrawal is $100,000...

          • Mine (which was only around $100) posted on 8/16, and I got the email that same day (though strangely the email said it was processed 8/12), 3 business days after I initiated the withdrawal on 8/11. I was just a little worried since some people were getting emails & the deposit more quickly.

  • Dear XXXX,

    We know the weeks since we suspended customer account access have been extraordinarily difficult. In an effort to quickly provide some relief to our customers, we have been working to restore access to Voyager customer cash held at Metropolitan Commercial Bank.

    Yesterday, the Court approved our proposal to restore access to your cash (US Dollars). We know how important this step is, and the Court’s decision now allows us to move forward with processing cash withdrawal requests.

    We plan to resume access to the Voyager app for customer cash withdrawals only, starting on Thursday, August 11th. Customers with cash (US Dollars) in their accounts will receive an email with more details when the cash withdrawal function has been enabled. We anticipate customers will receive their US Dollars in about 5-10 business days after making their requests. Requests will be processed as quickly as possible but will require some manual review, including fraud reviews and account reconciliation, and timing will depend, in part, upon the individual banks to which customers transfer their cash. Once cash withdrawals are enabled, customers can withdraw up to $100,000 via ACH in a 24-hour period.

    Please read the following blog post, which has additional information on restoring access to customer cash, the claims process, and the next steps in the reorganization and our efforts to maximize the value of crypto on the platform.

    Regards,
    Team Voyager

  • I don't have skin in this game, but I've been rubbernecking.

    Looks like they're beginning the process to restore people's access to their USD. Most of the speculation in the comments below was that this would happen, so I don't think many people are that surprised, but anyway, it's happening.

    Any crypto you had is still likely to take a large haircut, including USDC.

      • What is the purpose of stable coins? If one USDC = one US dollar, why should I keep my money as USDC? Is there an incentive to store as USDC? something like a high interest rate?

        • You got it. Except you probably already know that there's no easy, safe way to consistently generate 8-9% returns (technically even more than that since these companies will be taking some off the top). So you're also assuming the risk of whatever they have to do to make these returns.

        • Yes it was. Voyager was offering something like 8% on USDC where the other big crypto companies were not (except Celsius). It was tempting but I always thought it was too good to be true so I never did it.

      • Unless you have been (possibly indirectly) paying the cost of the FDIC (or equivalent) insurance, no, they definitely should NOT be treated as cash.

  • I lost 15k in this. Just gotta keep going and maybe i'll get some pennies on the dollar in a few years.

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