Cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York.
The company based in Toronto, Canada, was heavily exposed to collapsed hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, which itself filed for bankruptcy recently.
Three Arrows filed for a Chapter 15 petition after a court in the British Virgin Islands ordered it to liquidate.
Voyager estimates that it has more than 100,000 creditors, with liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10bn. It said its assets are also worth between $1bn and $10bn.
Reports suggest that Voyager’s loan book accounted for around half of its total assets, with loans to Three Arrows making up to 60% of that loan book.
Voyager’s stock price was above $20 last November but fell below $1 last month amid the crypto crash. It is currently trading at 27 cents, with a market cap of around $50m.
The company is also coming under fire for claiming in marketing materials that investors’ deposits were protected by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance.
This would be the case in the event that its bank failed – the Metropolitan Bank of New York – but not if the company itself failed. It also does not apply to stablecoins.
blackfridge raises funds to launch poundtoken stablecoin
Isle of Man FinTech blackfridge has raised millions in a pre-Series A round to launch a pound-backed stablecoin.
Poundtoken (GBPT), set to launch imminently, is claimed to be the first British-regulated stablecoin fully backed 1:1 by pound sterling which will allow for ‘international transactions 24/7, without delays or costly fees’.
The funding comes from FunFair Ventures and Gate Ventures – its first external capital – and will also fund strategic operations.
FunFair, which has expertise in blockchain technologies, will also offer commercial, marketing, event and corporate support to blackfridge.
“Our future vision of the crypto space aligns closely with blackfridge’s goals, which illustrated its qualities as a long-term partner,” said Lloyd Purser, COO at FunFair Ventures.
“We’re excited to bring our many years of blockchain and crypto expertise to their business and build on what blackfridge has already accomplished.”
Gate Ventures is a specialist initiative focused on blockchain and crypto. It will support blackfridge and list poundtoken on its exchange, Gate.io.
“Recent weeks have seen why a new approach is needed for stablecoins,” said Kevin Yang, managing partner at Gate Ventures.
“Strong regulation is vital to the long-term sustainability of cryptocurrencies, and blackfridge’s preliminary work with poundtoken shows how it can be managed in the right way.
“With protections against volatility acting as a safety net, we’re confident that poundtoken will be the first of many successful activities by blackfridge.”
Cryptocurrency shorts
UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority has appointed a former police officer to oversee the crypto-asset market. Among a string of new directors, Matthew Long has been unveiled as the director of payments and digital assets, a new role overseeing the e-money, payment and crypto-asset markets and leading related policy development. He is currently a director within the National Economic Crime Command within the National Crime Agency, and will join the FCA in October.
HMRC has opened a public consultation on the tax treatment of DeFi lending and staking, calling for stakeholders – including investors, professionals and firms engaged in DeFi activities – to submit evidence for a review on the topic.
Celsius, the crypto lender facing a liquidity crisis, has paid down $183 million of its debt to decentralised lending platform Maker. This could be to gain access to bitcoin-equivalent tokens posted on the platform as collateral. Celsius has halted user withdrawals and is reportedly cutting its workforce.
Estonia-based crypto lending company CoinLoan is the latest to limit withdrawals, with users only able to draw out $5,000 in a 24-hour period.
A new exchange platform, XBO, is offering rewards for pre-launch registration. XBO claims to merge a gaming-inspired user interface with the latest security to offer traders a ‘comfortable and visually appealing alternative to existing exchange platforms’.
GT racing team Vincenzo Sospiri Racing (VSR), backed by Lamborghini’s motorsport department, has partnered with non-fungible token platform Go2NFT to launch a programme that certifies its racing car parts.
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the more than 20,100 coins is at $903.48 billion at the time of writing (7am UK), a 1.2% decrease in the last 24 hours.
Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – lost 1% to $20,000. BTC is 1% down in a week.
Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – shed 2% to $1,130. ETH is slightly down over the course of a week.
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to assist its aim in becoming the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token lost 1% to $233, leaving it 6% up over seven days.
Cardano is an open source network facilitating dApps which considers itself to be an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, fell 2% to below 46 cents and is 3% down in a week.
The XRP token of Ripple, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP shed 1% to 32.4c, with its price 3% down on seven days ago.
Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralised finance accessible on a larger scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token fell slightly to $35.78 yet is 2% higher than its price a week ago.
Meme coin DOGE was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies but is now a major player in the space. DOGE lost 3% to 6.7c, leaving it 3% up in a week.
Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralised web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, lost 3% to $6.81 and is 5% down on its price a week ago.
Avalanche is a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments. Its AVAX token gained 2% to $18.41 and is 1% up in a week.
To see how the valuations of the main coins have changed in recent times – and for round-ups of recent cryptocurrency news developments – click here.
For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.