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Canadian crypto broker Voyager Digital (VYGVF) has suspended trading, deposits, withdrawals and loyalty rewards, according to a statement released by the company on Friday afternoon.
The decision comes after the company gave notice of default to crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) after it failed to repay more than $644 million in borrowed bitcoin (BTC-USD) and USDC.
“It was an extremely difficult decision, but we believe it is the right one given current market conditions,” Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich said in the statement, citing the pause as a way to recoup 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 tied to 3AC, Voyager has an additional $480 million in crypto assets outstanding as of Thursday.
Voyager hired Moelis & Company and The Consello Group as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as legal advisor.
Shares of Voyager Digital, which trade over-the-counter in the United States, fell 30% on Friday. Canadian stock markets were closed on Friday. Shares of Voyager Digital have lost more than 97% this year.
Earlier this month, Voyager signed a term sheet with Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading company, Alameda Research, for a revolving line of credit of $200 million in cash/USDC and 15,000 in BTC, a total of $439 million based on the current value of bitcoin.
As of this writing, Voyager has already accessed $75 million of this line of credit. 3AC’s default notice does not break the terms of Voyager with Alameda, according to a statement from Voyager.
In addition to Voyager, the list of cryptocurrency lenders owed by Three Arrows has been growing since the company first reported financial trouble more than two weeks ago.
BlockFi, which announced on Friday afternoon that it had reached an agreement with crypto exchange FTX.US, suffered losses of $80 million from its transactions with Three Arrows.
Another major crypto broker, Genesis Trading, is also mitigating potential losses of “hundreds of millions” according to its sister company, Coindesk.
David Hollerith covers cryptocurrency for Yahoo Finance. follow him @dshollers.
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