Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of FTX Derivatives Exchange, justified the bid the trading platform and its subsidiary Alameda Ventures extended to bailout Voyager Digital.
Late last week, the joint offer extended from FTX and Alameda revealed that the duo was willing to permit Voyager digital’s customers to withdraw 75% of funds locked on the bankrupt firm’s platform. Per the terms of the offer, the remaining 25% can be drawn out via the liquidation process when the $650 million debt from Three Arrows Capital (3AC) is fully recovered.
Voyager’s lawyers have faulted the deal, saying it is a “low-ball bid dressed up as a white knight rescue” that only benefits FTX. The consultants working with Voyager Digital accused FTX of cherrypicking liabilities to assume and that the deal “transfers significant value to AlamedaFTX, and eliminates the value of assets that are of no interest to AlamedaFTX.”
In defence, Bankman-Fried said he does not wish that Voyager Digital’s customers suffer much more as funds locked in a bankruptcy process may not be accessible over a long period of time. He referenced the MtGox liquidation, a process launched to repay affected platform users, which is still ongoing till today.
Bankman-Fried said that while the deal is not perfect, the major antagonists are the so-called “third parties” that would lose from the whole transaction. He said the third parties would have preferred the bankruptcy process where they would be able to take consulting fees from the locked funds, which also contributes to its devaluation.
Just as it signed a deal with BlockFi in a bid to bail out the distressed crypto lender, Bankman-Fried said FTX has made its offer to Voyager Digital and hopes the firm’s “customers are allowed to choose it if they want.
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