FTX wins bid to take over bankrupt Voyager’s assets
The digital asset exchange FTX will now buy the assets of the bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital Ltd.
FTX took over the assets after winning an auction with a bid of around $50 million, the information was shared by people familiar with the matter.
The digital asset exchange is controlled by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried.
The purchase has come after several previous attempts by FTX to bail out or buy Voyager, according to Bloomberg.
New York-based Voyager had about 3.5 million users at the end of March, and 1.19 million funded accounts.
Former Wall Street Journal reporter Liz Hoffman broke the news Twitter that FTX won the auction and the acquisition of Voyager. She also shared price details and quoted people she did not identify.
“Crypto exchange FTX is the winning bidder for bankrupt crypto lender Voyager, ppl familiar said. Purchase price ~$50m but could eventually double if AUM & other milestones are hit,” she tweeted.
Voyager filed for bankruptcy protection in July. It did so after a failed attempt by Alameda Research to bail it out with a revolving line of credit. Alameda Research is a trading house affiliated with FTX.
Shortly after that attempt, FTX and Alameda revealed a joint bid for Voyager. However, Voyager called it a “low-ball” offer and declined the attempt. While in September, Alameda said it will return roughly $200 million worth of Bitcoin and Ether it had borrowed from Voyager by the end of the month.
Besides Voyager, Bankman-Fried has bought several distressed crypto firms, through which he has acquired customers and valuable technologies at a cheaper price.
Bankman-Fried is estimated to own more than 50% off FTX, 70% of FTX US and almost all of Alameda.
Crypto platform BlockFi was also under FTX’s acquisition radar earlier this year, along with a potential takeover of Robinhood Markets Inc., in which Bankman-Fried owns a stake.
According to a source, FTX is in the process of raising a financing round of 1 billion dollars. The deal has not yet been finalized or made public, the source familiar with the deal added.
Negotiations are reportedly ongoing and confidential, and the company will raise as much as $1 billion to retain its previous $32 billion valuation, but terms could change, according to sources.
As reported by Blockchain.News on February 1, FTX Derivatives Exchange has closed its Series C funding round, which raised $400 million to increase its valuation to $32 billion. Current existing investors include Singapore’s Temasek, SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global.
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