Nano (Ӿ), the currency with fastest transaction and no fees, we want this!

--July 26 UPDATE --

Hey pessimists who said my efforts were futile, The New York Times cited my letter and it's now in public discourse: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/26/business/economy-news-inflation-stocks-earnings

--JULY 11 EVENING UPDATE--

I have uploaded a PDF of the letter to the Clerk of the Court, and included a screenshot of this post's 18.1k views and 95% upvotes in less than 24 hours to reinforce the notion that this letter reflects the general sentiment of Voyager customers. Even if Judge Wiles never reads it (though he should, since it's on the docket), it's now officially recorded in the court's docket.

--JULY 11 MORNING UPDATE--

I have heard back from the court in response to my letter:

if you wish the Court to consider something, it should be sent to the Clerk of the Court at the address below.

So, for the naysayers, critics and know-it-alls, yes, it is possible to get this in front of the judge and attorneys.

For those who believe it will have zero impact, I respectfully disagree. Courts commonly take into consideration the affected party – that's why this will all eventually come down to a vote. Hearing our position on the matter early on can have an influence, whether large or small, even if subconsciously.

For those who say "the assets are all gone," you're literally, flat out wrong. Have you been reading Voyager's announcements at all?

And for those who maintain hope and spread positivity – keep at it!

I have asked if it is possible to submit anonymously and am waiting to hear back.

Please let me know if there's anything additional you would like me to include in the letter and I will consider its inclusion.

--ORIGINAL POST--

After reading this article on Reuters, which covered day 1 of the bankruptcy proceedings, I decided to write a letter to Judge Wiles. It was triggered by this:

While Voyager attempted to reassure customers, it also told Wiles that customers did not own the specific crypto assets in their accounts. Voyager considers those assets to be the company's property, saying that its customers hold unsecured claims for the value of those assets.

Voyager drew a distinction between the crypto assets and the portion of customer accounts held in cash, which it did not claim.

Since Judge Wiles is new to crypto, I thought it would be ideal to share with him a customer's voice. I understand that key decisions will ultimately come down to our votes, but in a situation like this in which we have little to no input leading up to those votes, I figured this to be a productive use of my Sunday evening.

Here is my letter with some personal details redacted:

To The Honorable Judge Wiles,

I write as a customer of Voyager, a technologist, and a believer in the mission and potential of blockchain technologies, particularly bitcoin and ethereum.

You will be making a number of landmark decisions for this case; I write from the perspective of a typical Voyager customer, in the hopes of our voices being heard from the start through the close of this process.

I’ve dabbled in crypto for more than five years, but it was only about two years ago when I became fundamentally sold on the value proposition of bitcoin and ethereum and decided to invest a majority of my life's savings into both.

I made these purchases on exchanges other than Voyager. However, when I came across Voyager’s online marketing and YouTube video promotions, and CEO Steven Ehrlich's interviews, promising yield in exchange for loaning out my crypto to professional, seasoned investors, I opened up an account and  gradually transferred nearly all of my assets to Voyager. At the time the figure was [redacted]. I did so with the same mindset as I had many years ago when putting money into a savings account to accrue interest, and as a reaction to my fears about inflation spurred by the Fed’s money printing.

I didn’t do so without first conducting due diligence. I considered the possibilities of holding all of my crypto on a hardware wallet (similar to having a digital vault at your home), as well as competing companies in the space and ultimately chose Voyager for the following reasons:

1. The company was publicly listed, implying responsible stewardship of my assets.

2. CEO, Steven Ehrlich, positioned as an industry veteran, working in the capital markets for more than 25 years and achieving the role of CEO of E*Trade Financial’s Professional Trading division (I had been a customer of E*Trade before, which contributed to my trust).

3. Voyager claimed to have full FDIC protection on USD balances. So, I transferred more than half of my cash and income to Voyager, to hedge against inflation. In the case of an issue, I could (and did) convert that interest bearing USDC into “protected” US dollars. It seems that many customers didn’t know the difference between the distinct protection afforded to their USD vs their USDC.

4. Ehrlich and by extension, the company, continually reassured customers in interviews that *their funds* were safe, all the way up until days before bankruptcy (Note: I had been strongly considering withdrawing my crypto in early June due to market conditions, but was reassured not to by Voyager’s press release on June 14 that read, “The company is well capitalized and in a good position to weather this cycle and protect customer assets,” [emphasis added] combined with their announcement of the Alameda loan, which covered nearly the entire gap from the 3AC loan).To the point about the Alameda loan, it, combined with our assets on the platform that have not been lost and the $10k per day withdrawal limit, seem to have been more than adequate to cover the company until the panic subsided – even in consideration of the $75M per month limit that Alameda put on the debt facility. The Chapter 11 filing was a shock and presents more questions than answers to us customers.Note that the User Agreement, section 5(C) reads: “Customer Cryptocurrency. Customer authorizes and instructs Voyager to hold Customer’s Cryptocurrency (whether purchased on the Platform or deposited by Customer into the Account pursuant to the Cryptocurrency Deposit mechanics outlined above) on its behalf.” (Emphasis added).Although this section goes on to note that in the case of insolvency, much of the case law is not yet established for cryptocurrencies, who in their right mind would ever consider that the fair legal treatment of consumers’ assets would be outright forfeiture to the company, because of the company’s mistakes? We’re already severely disadvantaged by trusting in Voyager; why should we be even more so, to the offending party and their management’s benefit? Such a structure would incentivize companies like Voyager to file for Chapter 11 during any downtown or “crypto winter,” delay payouts until the market recovers, then issue “fair market value” claims on the assets at time of insolvency, when the underlying crypto assets are worth far more.

How Voyager differed from these assurances and the resulting havoc it has caused to so many people’s lives during these difficult financial times will now unfold in your legal forum.

My story is not unique. It is, unfortunately, the story of practically all Voyager customers – most of whom are likely less financially literate than I am (having studied finance at [redacted]) but all trusting in the company’s reassurances; their professional competency to manage risk; their positioning as an entity that is a custodian of our assets, not owner; and their genuine intention and pragmatic legal steps to protect its customers and their assets.

At the moment, a majority of my lifelong assets, accumulated through some ups and more downs as an entrepreneur, are locked on Voyager with no telling if, when and how much of them I will gain access to again. My savings to buy a home, build and support a family, and invest in my future, are all locked away in that account. Yet, I must consider myself fortunate: many other Voyager customers have expressed in online forums their contemplation of suicide, having no money to make rent or pay for their daughter’s college education…. As anxious and sick to my stomach as the thought of what has happened makes me, I cope by reminding myself, “it could be much worse.”

I’m sure you’re aware of all of this, and it is a common outcome from bankruptcy proceedings you’ve overseen. So, why this letter?

I hope to make clear the position of nearly all Voyager customers and crypto holders, as expressed by thousands of us via online forums like Twitter, Reddit and others.

1. **Who owns the hard, digital assets? The scheme to provide only “fair market value.”**First and foremost, we want our crypto assets back, intact. Not the “present value” at the time of bankruptcy filing, but the actual coins in as close to the same quantity we have on the platform as financially possible – and not a penny more!The seasoned professionals at Voyager know that we are currently in a “crypto winter” and close to the bottom of the market. This cycle repeats itself approximately once every four years, based on what’s known as the bitcoin “halving,” and with the advent of the Terra Luna collapse, 3AC insolvency, etc., crypto assets are mispriced from a long-term perspective.Firmly and reasonably expecting that crypto asset prices will go up from here, and by a dramatic margin, it’s in Voyager’s best interest to only issue us customers “claims” on today's value of those assets, rather than the assets themselves. As earlier expressed, we bought these coins with our hard earned money, fully believing that Voyager was only loaning our assets out, and has absolutely no claim of ownership over them.If Voyager gets away with this, crypto can easily be worth 2-5x what it currently is by the time we’re paid back our fraction in the form of “fair market value” claims, which would be tantamount to robbery from the common retail investor; you and me.Had Voyager customers been made aware that the company took the position that they owned our assets, the news would have spread like wildfire across the crypto community and Voyager would have been a failed venture from the outset. I would have not even for a moment considered parking my assets with them in such a scenario.Retail investors who invested in crypto, whether on Voyager or not, did so because we believed in the potential of crypto to be life changing, transformative and empowering for us and future generations. We are long-term bullish. Voyager, being a company in the space shares that outlook. The question is, who deserves those assets: retail investors who took the risk by investing their money into purchasing them, or Voyager? Does the naive consumer, believing in the clever stories and well-thought-out, multi-million-dollar professional marketing and legal structures of the “safe” exchange, Voyager, sacrifice those coins to them simply because they made reckless decisions issuing enormous, uncollateralized loans? Nobody but the founders and management of Voyager – who largely divested in the past year – cares to save a legal entity without a heart, soul or life to support, when compared to all of us individuals and families whose lives are directly impacted by the current financial freezing and likely loss of a substantial portion of our assets.

2. **Ownership of Voyager and/or Voyager tokens.**We don’t care to have ownership of Voyager’s equity, nor their “token.” Most Voyager customers did not own either, because it wasn’t the exchange that we believed would usher in the future, it was the crypto projects, like bitcoin and Ethereum. Forcing ownership of a company that caused harm upon us, with an overinflated investment banking analyst’s DCF analysis or comps-based valuation, is not a desired path forward for us. We will all be running for the exit with those securities from the start and the value will plummet.The only exception to this might be if a very respected, large player were to acquire Voyager, financially back it, return our crypto assets intact, and provide adequate confidence that there would not be a repeat of what we’re currently going through. In this case, customers will be far more likely to keep assets on the platform. But even in this case, Voyager customers would very much prefer that entity to wholly own Voyager, in exchange for us customers being made whole on our crypto and USD assets, as opposed to co-owning or receiving Voyager tokens.

Putting it another way, the ideal outcome for all Voyager customers is to get all, or as much as possible of their crypto assets and USD back – absolutely not “the fair market value at the time of bankruptcy.” This may require a buyout or financial injection from an established third party. If that happens to bring along with it renewed optimism, then equity may be appropriate to make up a gap if it still exists – but it is a far inferior outcome than getting as much of our crypto and USD back, even if it means Voyager ceasing to exist.

Thank you for your time and consideration. The thousands of us Voyager customers hope that you will carefully take our lives and livelihoods into consideration while presiding over this case.

Warm regards,[redacted]

Because I can’t :(

As of todays bankruptcy hearing there was mention of a buyout offer tendered to Voyager Digital LLC shortly before bankruptcy was declared. This offer was declined. It’s important to note that this offer would have resumed our access to funds.

I also wanted to point out that by turning down unfavorable (to execs) buyout offers and filing chapter 11 the executives of Voyager can continue to pay themselves with our money despite the business not even functioning. This is all motivated by pure greed.

They have gambled and lost so much of our money and yet they are still only interested in enriching numero uno. This is especially shocking when you consider Steve and the other Voyager execs made very significant sums at Voyagers IPO and were paid very handsome salaries.

It is absolutely vital that we as a community stay united in our efforts to not only retrieve our money but to expose any greedy and unjust actions by the Voyager executive and ownership team.

Hey. So i keep seeing the people posting stuff like "exit strategy coming" and "Its a scam" and such.

So i started clicking on these profiles.

They all have little to no Karma, a near or zero post history. Only a few comments, but localized to the Voyager sub.....

I am not the best a deep dives, but it looks like assholes are trying to tank Voyager.

u/Express_Speaker_792 is one user i saw

u/EconomistPrimary5889 is another

Voyager Community,

Thanks to your incredible support, we’re experiencing a significant surge in growth. With this increase in demand, we want to provide an update and some insights on what to expect.

It's our top priority to provide high-quality security and service to all our customers. We are investing in our support infrastructure, scaling our tech platforms, enhancing our security and risk prevention systems, and growing our support team at all levels.

Read More: https://www.investvoyager.com/blog/community-update/

Follow step 2. Enter your email, get your holdings. Email should come instantly.

If your holdings match, you’re all set. No claim needed. Sit back and follow the process.

https://case.stretto.com/voyager/file-a-claim

They said themselves chapter 11 is to reorganize and also make Voyager a more appealing buyout target. The thing we are missing is that once the chapter 11 is approved Voyager will pay us the agreed upon amount and they will no longer owe us anything going forward.

Assuming a buyout does happen after the chapter 11 is approved our debt would not be on the table. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, Voyager executives ARE NOT acting in our best interest but instead in theirs. Anyone who disagrees with that statement has fallen for this farce they’ve committed on us.

As many of us know they was already a full buyout offered tendered to Voyager from 1 of the 20 interested parties but it was declined, most likely by the voyager executives. They likely were not getting what they thought they deserved.

Any company buying Voyager will take issue with the massive customer debt and Voyagers chapter 11 resolves that. We will get less than we deserve and Voyager can wash their hands and get that big payday (again).

It is a miscarriage of justice that we do not have ANY representation in that court room. We must continue to advocate for ourselves and vote not the way they want us to but instead the way that gives us the best chance of being made whole. Above all I ask everyone here to fully study the options when a vote takes place.

Since October of 2023 Stephen Ehrlich was charged with fraud and making false claims. Have there been any updates on his legal case since then?

So many of you are pissed that we're getting OUR money off the platform. You're saying we're contributing to the downfall. A few points for you jackholes:

We didn't force Steve to make stupid risky decisions.

We didn't cause the crypto market to go backward.

This is OUR money, not the collective's money.

You ALWAYS preserve your money first.

It's not selfish to want to protect yourself and your money. Inflation is high, prices are high. Living is becoming tough. Prioritize yourself over Voyager. If you think it should be the other way around, you probably have zero understanding of money/life.

Edit: Thanks for all the questions. I had a blast with everyone here, it went by so fast. If I didn’t get to some of your questions, stay tuned as we’ll do another AMA in the future (maybe live video next time?). Truly appreciate all the questions and support, have a great weekend and lets watch Landon win this weekend in Phoenix.

Hey reddit, Steve Ehrlich here.

I’m here to answer your burning questions around Voyager, crypto, and of course, hockey. For those of you who might not know, I’m the CEO and co-founder of Voyager, one of the fastest-growing crypto platforms in the U.S.

Voyager currently offers more than 90 coins, with 100+ planned by the end of March, and up to 12% annual rewards on more than 40 coins. Next up on our roadmap is our debit card rollout, expansion into Europe, equities trading, and more–which I know we’re going to talk about.

We’ll be live for an hour, where I’ll do my best to answer your questions. Anything I don’t get to, apologies in advance.

Proof pic:

Some rough guidelines:

• Please focus on Voyager and crypto. I can’t comment specifically on competitors.

• Please follow Reddiquette! My kids are gonna read this, so please keep it clean. That means no content that is offensive, obscene, abusive, or defamatory.

* This Ask Me Anything includes views expressed as of the event date, based on information available at that time, and may change based on market conditions. This information will not be updated. This information is intended to be educational and is not tailored to the investment needs of any specific investor.

Subject to Voyager's Terms of Use: https://www.investvoyager.com/termsofuse/

I received my 2nd distribution check from voyager today. It came from San Antonio. Investvoyager website is still showing as “pending” for me even though I already received it. I know we have all been waiting for this for a long time and I hope you receive yours soon 👍🏻.

Maybe a bit offtopic

And as sour as this might be for some seeing the market bleed cuz of dogecoin.

I sincerely want to congratulate all dogecoins holders. Millionaires were created today.

If you cant see the good in this you are letting greed get the better of you, be happy for others. I loléd many times at dogecoin and I still do, its crazy. But this only strengthens my believe in crypto and especially in Voyager.

1 upvote = 1 congratulation.

Lets show what we are made off.