Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research to repay $200M to Voyager
Alameda Research, the investment arm of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire, is set to repay loans worth almost $200 million to the bankrupt crypto exchange, Voyager Digital.
Earlier in September 2021, Voyager had secured a credit facility close to $380 million from the quant trading firm. Then in June 2022, the US broker entered into an agreement with Alameda Ventures to extend the previous credit facility, which was intended to help it meet customer liquidity needs.
Bankman-Fried-led Alamada Research offered to extend a credit line of $200 million in cash and USDC alongside a 15,000 BTC revolver. The move came just a few days after Alameda provided the same type of a loan to crypto lender BlockFi, citing the need to meet customer liquidity requirements in these challenging times.
Nevertheless, the US dollar value of Alameda’s loans have almost halved as the loan was denominated in crypto tokens rather than fiat money.
Per a recent filing in the Bankruptcy Court of Southern District of New York, Alameda would repay 6,553 BTC ($128 million) and 51,204 ETH ($70 million) to Voyager. The filing revealed that the bankrupt firm’s loan included smaller sums in other tokens including USDC, Dogecoin (DOGE), Voyager Token (VGX), Chainlink (LINK), Luna Classic (LUNC), Litecoin (LTC), etc.
The payments are due on September 30, and, in return, Voyager would release the collateral for loans that Alameda had pledged in the form of 4.65 million FTX Tokens ($110.1 million) and 63.75 million Serum ($49.1 million), which amounts to $160 million.
The court filing further states that if Alameda is unable to meet its deadline, the bitcoin instalments will increase by $34,000 per day.
Voyager requested a New York bankruptcy court to keep the crypto wallets that would be involved in the transactions private, citing “unwarranted speculation and attention surrounding any account activity,” if Alameda’s wallets become public.
The news comes a few weeks after lawyers representing Voyager Digital have described a joint proposal to bail out the bankrupt crypto lender from FTX and Alameda as a “low-ball bid dressed up as a white knight rescue.”
Voyager has been thrown a lifeline from crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, offering to provide its customers with early-access liquidity. Under the proposed restructuring deal, West Realm Shires — owner and operator of FTX US and Alameda Ventures — would buy all of Voyager’s crypto assets and loans in cash at market value, except the loans to bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.
If approved, Voyager customers would be able to claim a portion of their funds that were frozen earlier. Meanwhile, FTX would offer customers an option to receive their share of claims by opening a new account at FTX.
In response, Voyager’s bankruptcy lawyers have entered a public spat with Sam-Bankman Fried whose offer was described by them as harmful, highly misleading and only benefits FTX.
