Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_63315bcee7bcf" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Prithipaul worked at Voyager for barely five months</li>
 <li>The lender’s creditors opposed an employee retention bonus proposal last month</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/voyager/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Voyager Digital’s</a> chief financial officer (CFO) resigned some three months after the crypto lender filed for bankruptcy.



Ashwin Prithipaul, who worked there for just five months, will leave after a transition period for other opportunities, the company said in a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/voyager-announces-cfo-departure-301632427.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> on Friday. CEO Stephen Ehrlich will take up his duties in the meantime.



&#8220;On behalf of the Board of Directors and the executive leadership team, I want to extend our sincerest gratitude to Ashwin for his many valuable contributions, especially for his efforts during Voyager&#8217;s restructuring process,” Ehrlich said in the statement.&nbsp;



Prithipaul previously held CFO roles at financial brokerage DriveDigital and at crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital. It isn’t clear where Prithipaul is headed next.



Voyager is among a handful of crypto lenders hurt by the recent crypto market downturn. The unraveling of the market led by bankruptcies at Three Arrows Capital, Celsius and Voyager highlighted the perils of contagion and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/whats-wrong-with-centralized-crypto-lending/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">poor risk management</a>. The firm had more than 100,000 creditors at the time of insolvency, but it has drawn ample interest to warrant competing bids for its remaining assets.  



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Creditors objected to employee retention bonuses</h3>



The firm had wanted to pay <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-creditors-object-to-bankrupt-firms-plan-to-reward-key-staff/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">retention bonuses</a> to employees during its bankruptcy proceedings under a “key employee retention plan” proposal. It had marked 38 employees as key to the business due to their “valuable institutional knowledge” that would be expensive to replace quickly. If executed, the plan would’ve cost nearly $2 million. 



But Voyager’s creditors objected, saying the firm hadn’t provided enough reasons to warrant that decision. They also opposed the fact that Voyager had made no layoffs, unlike other crypto companies like Coinbase, Bitpanda, BlockFi and Blockchain.com. At the time, only 12 employees had left voluntarily. 



Voyager is set to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-to-liquidate-assets-at-auction/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">liquidate its assets</a> after an auction, with the final results set to be announced on Sept. 29 at 2:00 pm ET.



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Voyager Digital CFO Exits After 5-Month Term

<div id="highlights-block_62c5355583fac" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Voyager listed more than 100,000 creditors, with Alameda Research being the largest lender</li>
 <li>CEO Stephen Ehrlich said customers will receive their assets after reorganization</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Less than a week after suspending trading and withdrawals on its network, Voyager Digital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday.



The <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/581357118/Petition" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">petition</a>, filed in the Southern District of New York, shows Voyager has more than 100,000 creditors. The Toronto-based firm listed between $1 billion to $10 billion in estimated cryptoassets, and the same range for its liabilities.&nbsp;



Quant crypto trading firm Alameda Research is listed as its biggest creditor, holding unsecured loans worth $75 million.



Voyager’s announcement comes days after crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) — which owes Voyager millions — filed for <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/3ac-files-for-bankruptcy-as-co-founders-location-unknown/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chapter 15 bankruptcy</a> on Saturday.



“While I strongly believe in this future, the prolonged volatility and contagion in the crypto markets over the past few months, and the default of Three Arrows Capital on a loan from the company’s subsidiary, Voyager Digital, LLC, require us to take deliberate and decisive action now,” CEO Stephen Ehrlich said in a <a href="https://www.investvoyager.com/pressreleases/voyager-digital-commences-financial-restructuring-process-to-maximize-value-for-all-stakeholders" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>.&nbsp;



“The chapter 11 process provides an efficient and equitable mechanism to maximize recovery,” he added.



Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a company to reorganize its assets and debts while staying in business. Companies opting for this process must keep creditors’ interests in mind.



In a <a href="https://twitter.com/Ehrls15/status/1544550255307493376" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweet</a>, Ehrlich said Voyager customers having crypto in their accounts will receive a mix of their cryptoassets, proceeds from the 3AC recovery, common shares in the newly-reorganized firm and Voyager tokens.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Customers with crypto in their account(s) will receive in exchange a combination of the crypto in their account(s), proceeds from the 3AC recovery, common shares in the newly reorganized Company, and Voyager tokens.&mdash; Stephen Ehrlich (@Ehrls15) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ehrls15/status/1544550255307493376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Exposure to Three Arrows Capital</h3>



Voyager flagged signs of distress when it sought to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/three-arrows-capital-brink-default-owes-voyager-657m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recover about $657 million</a> allegedly loaned to 3AC. Its exposure to the hedge fund consisted of 15,250 BTC ($307 million at the time) and $350 million in cash. Voyager asked for the repayment to be made by June 27.



3AC’s move to file for bankruptcy suggests the repayment wasn’t made. The whereabouts of co-founders Zhu Su and Kyle Davies are unknown.



Last month, Voyager secured <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-to-borrow-500m-from-alameda-amid-insolvency-rumors/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$500 million</a> in loans from Alameda Research in a bid to safeguard customer assets. A company spokesperson told Blockworks at the time that speculation about the firm being insolvent was “unequivocally false.”&nbsp;



On July 1, Voyager <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-seeks-strategic-alternatives-following-pause-to-withdrawals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">suspended trading</a>, deposits, withdrawals and loyalty rewards while seeking “strategic alternatives.” Trading remains suspended at the time of publication.



Voyager’s token VGX is down 92% so far this year and has fallen 74% in the last month alone to $0.23, data from <a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com/assets/vgx/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research</a> shows. The company’s stock price is down 98% year to date and last traded at $0.35 Canadian dollars ($0.27), according to <a href="https://www.tradingview.com/chart/?symbol=TSX%3AVOYG" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TradingView</a>.


[stock_market_widget type=&#8221;accordion&#8221; template=&#8221;chart&#8221; color=&#8221;#8333CD&#8221; assets=&#8221;VGX-USD&#8221; start_expanded=&#8221;true&#8221; display_currency_symbol=&#8221;true&#8221; api=&#8221;yf&#8221; chart_range=&#8221;1mo&#8221; chart_interval=&#8221;1d&#8221;]



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Voyager Files for Bankruptcy Days After Freezing Withdrawals

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_61d36436a979b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Partnerships with influencers like Nascar driver Landon Cassill and NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski helped build Voyager brand awareness last year</li>
 <li>The firm is looking to move more into NFTs and other parts of the metaverse in 2022, according to Voyager CMO Pam Kramer</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



<a href="https://www.investvoyager.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Voyager Digital</a> is focused on continuing to build its brand in 2022 through more video-driven content that highlights consumer voices as well as partnerships that could move beyond the sports world.&nbsp;



Crypto marketing competition has heated up as companies in the space spent the last year looking to push their brands into the mainstream.&nbsp;



“Consumer financial services has long been an important advertiser and an important player in the media marketing landscape,” Voyager Chief Marketing Officer Pam Kramer told Blockworks in an interview. “The crypto category, now as it emerges, is no exception.”



Connecting with people and influencers who can talk about their experience with crypto is a key part of Voyager’s strategy, Kramer noted. The publicly traded company partnered with Nascar driver Landon Cassill in June, as well as NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski in September.&nbsp;



Such users of Voyager’s crypto platform can spread the firm’s message especially quickly through the internet, the executive explained, noting that the firm will look to further “elevate the voices” of its users going forward.&nbsp;



“It’s less about big media buys and more about tapping into the community,” Kramer said.



Crypto.com also <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-cmo-on-how-company-went-from-app-to-global-brand/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">had a busy year</a> of marketing, capped off by a 20-year, $700 million deal for the naming rights of what was formerly the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Crypto exchange FTX partnered with a handful of high-profile athletes throughout the year, including Tom Brady, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-names-stephen-curry-a-global-ambassador/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Steph Curry</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-inks-deal-with-mlb-star-shohei-ohtani/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shohei Ohtani</a>.&nbsp;



Kramer said she expects crypto to grow from its current level of a few hundred million users to a billion users within the next four or so years. Those billion users will be using a variety of platforms, she said, noting that there is “plenty of room” for multiple players in the space.



“I think over the next 12 to 24 months, we’re going to see the brands start to differentiate and each one develop a personality and connect with different groups of consumers,” Kramer noted.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A busy year</h3>



Kramer, who knew Voyager CEO Steve Ehrlich from her time working at ETrade Financial from 1995 to 2004, joined Voyager as its chief marketing officer in March.



At ETrade, Kramer said she ran focus groups in 1995 with people who said they would be uncomfortable interacting with their money online. That changed quickly over the next decade, she noted, adding that the perceptions around crypto are also morphing.



“I realized very quickly that we were in the middle of a culture change and that crypto was going to fundamentally change the way we interact with money and the financial world,” Kramer said.&nbsp;



Focused on continuing Voyager’s growth when she entered the CMO role in 2021, Kramer noted that the firm’s funded accounts grew from 43,000 at the end of 2020 to more than 1 million a year later.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“We’ve developed a mantra that is ‘crypto for all’ and developed a brand focus that is very much around humanity, around making crypto less cryptic and about making it accessible [so it] feels like they can participate in and earn the rewards of this new frontier,” Kramer said.</blockquote>



The firm <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/voyager-digital-extends-crypto-based-partnership-with-nascar-driver-landon-cassill-in-collaboration-with-kaulig-racing-301440789.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">extended its partnership with Cassill last month</a> for two more years. The racecar driver will be paid with a crypto portfolio that includes bitcoin (BTC), the voyager token (VGX), USD coin (USDC), stormX (STMX) and avalanche (AVAX).&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I am excited to not only have a shot at winning races, but to bring awareness to crypto and help educate people in a space that I&#8217;ve been personally invested in for a number of years,&#8221; Cassill said in a statement at the time of the extension.



Voyager also announced a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-digital-partners-with-dallas-mavericks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnership with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks</a> in October to bolster brand awareness and drive cryptocurrency adoption through educational programs.



Most recently, Voyager announced a multi-year agreement with The National Women’s Soccer League. The firm will fund crypto accounts for each rostered player in the league and will provide them with financial education.



<a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/cnbc-invest-in-you-august-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A CNBC survey</a> published last summer found that men are more than twice as likely to invest in cryptocurrencies than women.&nbsp;



“This is one piece of helping to close that gender gap,” Kramer said of the partnership.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">More on the horizon</h3>



One of the biggest challenges of marketing in the crypto space is helping a broad audience understand what can be a realm filled with memes, complicated lingo, and misconceptions, Kramer said.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“It’s not just educating; It’s almost helping to say, ‘This thing you thought about [crypto],&nbsp; it’s not real so let’s help you not only learn about it but start new associations,’” she explained. “That’s where people like Gronk and Landon and others really help.”</blockquote>



Voyager has done a lot of focused digital media and paid social media, and will continue to do so. It will create more video-driven content across those channels, Kramer said.



Ren Besnard, vice president of marketing at Unstoppable Domains, previously told Blockworks that he predicts a crypto company will have the best advertisement during Super Bowl LVI in February. 



When asked whether the firm was planning any marketing efforts around the game, slated for Feb. 13, Kramer said the firm is looking to potentially advertise around spring sports in March.



While much of big crypto marketing efforts to date have happened <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-companies-dive-further-into-sports-sphere/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">within the sports world</a>, Voyager is looking at partnerships in other industries as well, Kramer said.&nbsp;



“Just like I look at the profiles of our customers, we look at what else they’re interested in — what kinds of music, what kinds of entertainment and how people spend their time,” Kramer said.



Today, Voyager is a platform where users can buy and sell roughly 70 cryptocurrencies, but it&#8217;s looking to move more into NFTs and other parts of the metaverse, Kramer added.



Ehrlich said <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-looking-to-enter-nft-space-in-2022-ceo-says/">during an October earnings call</a> that crypto market maker Alameda Research, which <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/a16z-invests-250m-in-alchemy-alameda-backs-voyager-with-75m/">invested $75 million in Voyager</a> that month, would help it get more involved in the NFT space. He noted at the time that Voyager intends to make NFTs on multiple platforms accessible to its two million or so users and could look to build its own NFTs through its relationships with Cassill and Gronkowski.



“We want to be able to offer access to NFTs in the same way we offer access to the crypto assets today,” Kramer said, “so really making it simple and broad.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



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<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>

Voyager CMO: Crypto is ‘Changing the Way We Interact with Money’

<div id="highlights-block_61cdea63eb7e6" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>MicroStrategy now holds 124,391 bitcoins, which it bought for nearly $3.8 billion</li>
 <li>Bitcoin’s price has risen by 74% in the past 12 months, CoinGecko data shows, while the stock price of MicroStrategy went up by roughly 47% over that span</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



MicroStrategy, one of the largest advocates of buying and holding bitcoin, has purchased more of the crypto asset before the year’s end.&nbsp;



The Virginia-based business intelligence company has bought an additional 1,914 bitcoins for about $94 million in cash, an average price of roughly $49,200, according to <a href="https://www.microstrategy.com/content/dam/website-assets/collateral/financial-documents/financial-document-archive/form-8-k-12-30-2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a Dec. 30 disclosure</a>. 



As of Dec. 29, the firm held 124,391 bitcoins, which it bought for nearly $3.8 billion, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor said in a Twitter post on Thursday. The average price it has paid for all of its bitcoin to date is roughly $30,160.



MicroStrategy had announced <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/microstrategy-announces-new-414-4m-bitcoin-buy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">buying an additional 7,000 bitcoins</a> at the end of November for an average price of about $59,200. 



Saylor noted the supply cap of 21 million bitcoins <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/michael-saylor-bitcoin-is-a-trillion-dollar-opportunity-for-tech-giants/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">during an earnings call</a> in July, adding that there is a “land grab” to acquire as much as possible. 



Illiquid supply, defined as bitcoin held in addresses that spend less than 25% of their incoming coins, is at an all-time high, Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at Genesis, said in a statement after MicroStrategy’s 7,000 BTC buy in November. About 76% of BTC in circulation can be considered illiquid, she added.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“When large new buyers come into the market, they will have a dwindling supply of readily available BTC, which implies that any move up is likely to be sharper than it would otherwise be,” Acheson said. </blockquote>



A spokesperson for MicroStrategy declined to comment on its bitcoin-buying plans for 2022 or if it would look to buy other crypto assets.



“We don’t wish to express a general opinion or take an investment risk with regard to which platform, which application and which use case of bitcoin will be most successful,” Saylor said in July. “We think that the least risky, most diversified investment strategy is to simply hold bitcoin.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Bitcoin’s price</h3>



Bitcoin’s price has risen by 74% in the past 12 months, the CoinGecko data shows. Over that span, the stock price of MicroStrategy went up by roughly 47% to $574, as of Noon ET on Thursday, according to Google Finance.&nbsp;



The price of bitcoin was about $47,680, as of Noon ET, according to <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinGecko</a>. That price was down about 2% from seven days ago and down about 18% in the trailing month.



A total of 129,800 option contracts worth more than $6 billion are set to expire on Friday, according to Skew data, CoinDesk reported. Price volatility has historically preceded monthly options expiration, industry professionals have indicated.



Voyager Digital CEO Steve Ehrlich said in a statement that the next year for bitcoin, which he called “the face of crypto to the world,” is pivotal. When bitcoin hits new highs, he added, it attracts attention and price action to the crypto markets as a whole.&nbsp;



“Bitcoin will reach and surpass $100,000 in 2022,” he said. ”$100,000 is the next major psychological barrier for investors. It might take some consolidation time, but once bitcoin breaks that barrier, I expect it to fly.”



Bitcoin breaking $100,000 would put the market capitalization at about $2 trillion, Ehrlich noted, which is nearly 20% of the market cap of gold.&nbsp;



“The higher bitcoin climbs relative to gold,” he said, “the more investors will wake up and see bitcoin as a digital alternative to hedge against the traditional equity markets.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



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<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>

MicroStrategy Buys 1,900 More Bitcoins

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_615dd277cd01e" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Voyager’s total verified users on its platform increased to more than 2.15 million, up about 23% from 1.75 million in the previous quarter</li>
 <li>The cryptocurrency trading platform is anticipating international expansion beyond its US homebase and plans to expand its product offerings in the future, Stephen Ehrlich, CEO and co-founder of Voyager said in a statement</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Cryptocurrency trading platform Voyager Digital preliminary revenue fell about 40% from the previous quarter, the company reported on Wednesday.&nbsp;



Voyager <a href="https://www.investvoyager.com/pressreleases/voyager-digital-business-update-for-the-quarter-ended-september-30-2021" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">projects</a> its revenue for its fiscal 2022 first quarter ending on September 30 to be between $63 million to $67 million, down from $109 million in the previous quarter ending on June 30. 



The crypto company declined to comment further when requested by Blockworks, but referenced the statement in the press release that &#8220;Voyager&#8217;s transactional volume is contingent on market volume and the overall market volume decreased substantially in July and August.&#8221;



The company operates on a non-standard fiscal quarter, a spokesperson told Blockworks. Voyager’s F1Q is September, F2Q is December, F3Q March and F4Q June, the spokesperson said. So, its Fiscal Year for 2022 is July 2021 to June 2022.&nbsp;



The three-year-old company provides users over 60 digital assets with the ability to earn rewards up to 12% on more than 30 cryptocurrencies. Although revenue is projected lower, Voyager’s total verified users on its platform increased to more than 2.15 million, up about 23% from 1.75 million in the previous quarter, according to the data. 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="213" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Voyager.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9005" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Voyager.jpg?w=512 512w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Voyager.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Voyager.jpg?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Voyager.jpg?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Voyager.jpg?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Voyager.jpg?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /><figcaption>Preliminary data from Voyager Digital </figcaption></figure></div>



“Our marketing efforts are contributing to consistent user growth, and we’ve seen trading volume rebound following the general industry-wide downtrend witnessed in July,” Stephen Ehrlich, CEO and co-founder of Voyager said in a statement.&nbsp;



The company is anticipating international expansion beyond its US homebase and plans to expand its product offerings in the future, Ehrlich said.&nbsp;



“We have begun to diversify our revenue model to generate long term staking rewards providing recurring revenue,” Ehrlich said. “As we continue to develop staking capabilities, we expect that reward and yield revenue will generate a minimum of $40-50 million of reward and yield revenue for the December quarter, in addition to the standard transactional revenue,” he added.



In early August, Voyager announced its plans to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-digital-acquires-crypto-payment-platform-coinify/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">acquire crypto payment platform Coinify</a> to accelerate its international expansion and enhance its capabilities in the payment world. The buy gave the company’s customers a new way to make purchases and payments from their accounts on the platform.



Separately in June, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-galaxy-digital-well-positioned-long-term-analysts-say/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> that Voyager was better positioned than some of its larger competitors to attract users into the cryptocurrency market, according to a note by Compass Point Research and Trading. 



The <a href="https://www.compasspointllc.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">note</a> found that Voyager’s commission-free trading model, array of crypto trading pairs and big coin offerings gave it a stronger value proposition over similar companies like Coinbase, Square and Paypal, Compass Point senior analysts Michael Del Grosso and Chris Allen wrote in a June 20 research note.

Stephen Erlich