Sam Bankman-Fried plans to take advantage of Voyager Digital’s predicament to expand his empire. Indeed, FTX and Alameda Ventures are offering to buy the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange’s assets, so that frozen customers can regain access to their frozen funds more quickly.
FTX to rescue Voyager customers
While cryptocurrency exchange Voyager Digital is currently in bankruptcy, FTX and Alameda Ventures are coming up with a proposal. The goal is to help customers whose funds are frozen, by making a buyout of the platform’s assets to allow for an immediate release.
It would be Alameda, who would proceed to buy back these assets so that Voyager customers can recover them by opening an account on FTX. These customers would then benefit from a month’s worth of free fees on the platform.
However, the buyout offer is clear that the disputed loans to Three Arrows Capital (3AC) are not included in the terms of the proposal:
“Alameda will purchase all of Voyager’s digital assets and digital asset loans (other than the loans to Three Arrows Capital […]) in immediately available cash at fair market value. Alameda would pay the cash value of the Voyager digital assets in escrow.”
Sam Bankman-Fried wants to expand his empire
Through his various companies, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder of FTX and Alameda Research is thus placing his pawns on the great cryptocurrency chessboard. If this proposal is accepted by Voyager, then FTX would benefit from an additional customer base. As the proposal states, the goal is for new investors to discover and like the exchange’s services:
“FTX takes advantage of the opportunity to build relationships with new customers. No customer would be required to remain a customer of FTX. FTX expects customers to like the FTX platform and decide to stay.”
While this is negotiable, FTX and Alameda would also buy back the Voyager Digital name and various intellectual properties. In addition, the $75 million in debt already taken on from Alameda would be forgiven in the event of a deal.
On the other hand, Voyager’s teams will not be able to think about this offer forever. They have a deadline of Tuesday, July 26 to decide. The final terms of the agreement will also have to be concluded in such a way that they will be executed by Saturday, July 30 at the latest.
This is a daring strategy on the part of SBF, but one that fits in with its acquisition program. Crises like these do indeed allow players who have managed their finances well to come out of the game stronger.
