Voyager Digital to Return $270M in Cash to Customers

Troubled crypto lender Voyager Digital has received approval from the bankruptcy court to return $270 million held in its custodial account to its customers, the Wall Street Journal reported on 4 August.

According to the publication, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York — which oversees Voyager’s bankruptcy proceedings — gave the green light to the company to return customer funds held at the Metropolitan Commercial Bank (MCB). Judge Michael Wiles agreed that customers should be granted access to Voyager’s custodial account — which is believed to hold around $270 million in cash — after the company provided a “sufficient basis” for the request.

Voyager Digital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — which allows a company to continue operations as it restructures — only days after it paused withdrawals in July. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, the company’s funds in MCB were frozen, though Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich noted at the time he intended to return those funds to customers as soon as the “reconciliation and fraud prevention process” was completed.

The Second Day Hearing Presentation from Voyager revealed that during its restructuring process, it was able to contact as many as 88 interested parties that could potentially help the company with its financial troubles, 46 of which have signed non-disclosure agreements. The presentation also noted that 22 parties were in “active discussions” with Voyager, and that the final bid deadline was on 26 August, with the sales hearing being held on 7 September.

One of the first proposals came from Alameda and FTX back in July, with the companies offering to buy all of Voyager’s outstanding debts, with the exception of its defaulted loan to Three Arrows Capital. Voyager, however, rejected the offer by saying it had “misleading or outright false claims”, and that it could harm its customers.

On Thursday, Voyager attorney Joshua Sussberg told Bloomberg that the company had already received a number of “higher and better” buy out offers than the one from Alameda and FTX. He further noted that the Alameda/FTX bid was actually one of the lowest received so far, though he did not disclose details around the other offers.