- Sam Bankman-Fried offers buyout deals for both BlockFi and Voyager.
- Celsius Network, who were hit the hardest, wasn’t offered such deals.
- The joint proposal offered to Voyager was declined on the grounds that it was “highly misleading” and could possibly “harm customers.”
The name of Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO and founder of crypto exchange FTX, is breaking the silence of social media as the CEO had been the center of acquisition talks amid crypto meltdown.
Recently, crypto lending firms that offer an interest rate as high as 18% or more have suffered as crypto markets were down nearly 70% from peaks. One of the most devastating crashes was that of Terra’s UST and Luna, where both dropped down to nearly zero in May.
Celsius Network, BlockFi, and Voyager are some of the crypto lending firms that were heavily affected by the crypto meltdown; these firms have halted their withdrawal and trading options. Furthermore, both Celsius Network and Voyager filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a type of bankruptcy where companies reorganize assets and debts.
The situation with BlockFi was turned around when the CEO of crypto lending firm BlockFi’s Zac Prince signed an agreement with FTX on July 1, which ended FTX purchasing BlockFi for $25 million.
FTX and Alameda Ventures, firms affiliated to Bankman-Fried, also offered an early liquidity exit for Voyager users on Friday, stating that they are able to reclaim a portion of their assets “without forcing them to speculate on bankruptcy outcomes and take one-sided risks.” However, Voyager declined the joint proposal saying it was “highly misleading” and could possibly “harm customers.”
After buyout offers for BlockFi and Voyager were made public, speculations rose that Celsius was hit the hardest by the recent crypto crash.
A Twitter user named DegenSpartan, who responded to Bankman-Fried’s proposal to Voyager, stated that Celsius was left out, which means that things “must’ve been really bad” on Celsius. According to the bankruptcy filings, Celsius’ debt was around $4.7 billion and has a $1.2 billion deficit on its balance sheets.
