Canadian crypto broker Voyager Digital (VYGVF) suspended trading, deposits, withdrawals, and loyalty rewards, according to a statement released by the firm Friday afternoon.
The decision comes after the firm gave a notice of default to crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) after it failed to repay over $644 million in borrowed bitcoin (BTC-USD) and USDC.
“This was a tremendously difficult decision, but we believe it is the right one given current market conditions,” Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich said in the release, citing the pause as a way to pursue the funds owed by Three Arrows.
Additionally, the suspension means customers cannot use their Voyager debit card. Excluding at least $645 million in loaned assets related to 3AC, Voyager has an additional $480 million in outstanding crypto assets on loan as of Thursday.
Voyager has hired Moelis & Company and The Consello Group as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as a legal advisor.
Shares of Voyager Digital, which trade over-the-counter in the US, fell 30% on Friday. Canadian equity markets were closed on Friday. Shares of Voyager Digital have lost over 97% this year.
Earlier this month, Voyager signed a term sheet with Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm Alameda Research for a revolving credit line of $200 million in cash/USDC and 15,000 in BTC, a total of $439 million based on bitcoin’s current value.
As of the time of this writing, Voyager had already accessed $75 million of this credit line. The default notice from 3AC does not break Voyager’s terms with Alameda, according to a release from Voyager.
In addition to Voyager, the list of lenders owed cryptocurrency by Three Arrows has been mounting since the firm first conveyed financial problems more than two weeks ago.
BlockFi, which on Friday afternoon announced it had struck a deal with crypto exchange FTX.US, has experienced $80 million in losses from its dealings with Three Arrows.
Another major crypto broker, Genesis Trading, is also mitigating potential losses in the “hundreds of millions” according to its sibling company, Coindesk.
David Hollerith covers cryptocurrency for Yahoo Finance. Follow him @dshollers.
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Source: finance.yahoo.com