Voyager (Crypto)
Crypto lending platforms lending customer deposits to high-risk counterparties created systemic cascading failures.
2018 → 2022
$165M
Crypto/Fintech
USA
IdeaProof AI Failure Score
Full Analysis
Voyager Digital was a crypto brokerage that offered customers high yields on deposits (up to 12% APY). To generate these yields, Voyager lent customer funds to entities like Three Arrows Capital (3AC). When 3AC collapsed in June 2022, Voyager was left with a $650M hole it couldn't fill. The company froze customer withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy, leaving 3.5 million customers unable to access their funds. Voyager's failure was part of the broader crypto contagion of 2022 (alongside Celsius, BlockFi, and FTX). The lesson: promising unsustainable yields requires taking unsustainable risks, and when those risks materialize, customers pay the price.
Could This Failure Have Been Prevented?
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