Crypto exchange Voyager plans to launch the Voyager Debit card. The card will offer up to 9% rewards and allow customers to spend USDC coin. Currently there are no details about how the rewards program will work, but you’ll need to stake $100 in USDC coin to be eligible. The card is also not live at the moment, but you can pre register your interest.
It’s always hard to know how useful these cards/programs will be when the information is so limited. I suspect a lot of readers will already have Voyager accounts from the $100 Mavericks promotion.
Hat tip to reader dealbreezy
Today we made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend trading, deposits, withdrawals, and loyalty rewards. The app will be down for a short transition period. After that, you will still be able to view market data and track your portfolio, and you will receive rewards payments for the month of June.
William Charles
The Ponzi Scheme is finally crumbling. The adage “If it sounds too good to be true it probably is” shines true once again. Hopefully it shines through to others on crypto platforms who are blinded by their greed.
I think we’ve all learned by now to be a little suspicious when we see the words “up to”. Anyway, looks like you have to invest in at least 500 VGX (Voyager token) to start unlocking higher returns.
No idea what that will actually cost in practice or the level of risk. Unless I read something wrong, think I’ll go back to my original plan of closing the account.
https://www.investvoyager.com/vlp/
The base rate is 9% APY on USDC. The VGX tiers add additional APY on top
Hmm, you may be right. Can’t edit my post, but saw this link:
https://rewards.investvoyager.com/interest/
I’d just caution people to look at the mavs promo page, a bunch of us are having problems getting the promo and our funds out. And customer support seems to be non existent
A lot of people started to talk about FDIC insurance. Let me answer all of them.
FDIC insured or not does matter in the crypto world. What does is matter how 9%+ earning will be generated under the hood. If it is based on lending then there are already 10+ places where you can generate such earning right now (celsius, blockfi, gemini etc.). Again it does not matter if it is FDIC or not. If Voyager uses bad risk management and credit assessments for lending, you money will go to zero if loans are failed. And FDIC will not help even if Voyager had one.
Isn’t that what FDIC is supposed to protect against? (I agree with your general point about what people should be worried about. But if FDIC did apply to crypto lending, then people wouldn’t need to worry about the loans failing, right?)
Or maybe your point is that even if they have FDIC insurance for USD that you deposit, if you convert that to crypto then the FDIC no longer applies.
This comment needs more upvotes.
What’s the consensus regarding pre-registering? Are most doing it or waiting?
I went ahead and pre-registered.
If you spend the USDC earned at 9% then you wouldn’t have to pay taxes on it, no?
You’re supposed to pay tax on the interest earned when it’s paid into your account, just like with regular bank account interest. Spending USDC would likely not be a taxable event; the only thing that would be taxable is if the cost basis is different from the proceeds, which will almost certainly not be the case with USDC, which maintains a 1:1 exchange rate with USD.
At first I thought this debit card was something special like you receive 9% cash back on debit card purchases but really all this debit card does is a glorified debit card that pays you 9% interest for any USDC that you preload to this debit card. You could easily earn that same 9% on USDC by leaving it in your Voyager interest account and would aggregate a higher amount too. I wouldn’t be preloading a debit card with thousands of USDC for safety reasons.
I mean its great for those that spend their USDC but its nothing special in terms of receiving rewards for using the debit card.
Awesome post guys!!
Ultimately 9% interest would be unsustainable, is this somehow (directly or indirectly) predicated on crypto continuing to grow at significant rates?
I’d rather keep money in crypto and get the actual double-triple digit upside if I’m going to incur the downside of a large crash in the space. Or in stocks for similar to 9% interest but not the same level of existential risk (I could be completely wrong here)
Lets be honest no one goes apeing every single dollar that they own in a stock or crypto and sell their stock/crypto each month just to pay for your mortgage and other every day expenses. Everyone has 2 separate buckets for this.
Perhaps we should wait until they offer a bonus first, and then sign up for the debit card.