Voyager Digital said Friday it is suspending trading, deposits and withdrawals, in the latest sign of the deepening crisis in the crypto markets. Voyager said the move is meant to give the major crypto broker “additional time” to look for “strategic alternatives” as the company grapples with the impact of the market slump, CEO Stephen Ehrlich said in a statement.
“This was a tremendously difficult decision, but we believe it is the right one given current market conditions," he said.
The suspension of services followed Monday’s announcement by the major crypto broker that Three Arrows Capital had defaulted on a loan from Voyager of cryptocurrencies worth $666 million.
Two weeks ago, Voyager said it had secured a revolving line of credit of $200 million and 15,000 bitcoins from Alameda Research, a firm controlled by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. At the time, Ehrlich said the line would help the company “mitigate current market conditions and strengthen our relationship with one of the industry leaders.”
The total value of the cryptocurrency market has shed roughly $2 trillion in the last seven months, as bitcoin’s value has dipped below $20,000 and other tokens have dropped severely in value.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE