The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which protects customers in the event of certain types of bank failures, is looking into how bankrupt digital-asset firm Voyager Digital Ltd. marketed itself to customers, a spokesperson for the agency said.
Voyager, the latest casualty of the turmoil in the crypto markets, has publicly said that any US dollars deposited with the firm are covered by FDIC insurance, thanks to its partnership with Metropolitan Commercial Bank. Wording posted in 2019 on a company web page
But that wording was since
The US government has been increasingly concerned about companies making false advertisements to consumers about deposit insurance. FDIC in May put out a final
The FDIC spokesperson emphasized in an email Thursday that while Metropolitan Commercial Bank is FDIC-insured, Voyager is not. Therefore deposit insurance does not protect customers against Voyager’s default, bankruptcy, withdrawal freeze, or loss in value of products, the spokesperson said. The CFPB declined to comment. Voyager paused customer deposits and withdrawals last week and then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late Tuesday.
Social media has been abuzz with confused and frustrated customers who fear they’ll never get reimbursed for their crypto and cash holdings. Some said they felt misled by the company’s prior statements about FDIC insurance.
Normally such insurance would
The fine print in Voyager’s
Some of Voyager’s marketing materials were misleading, even if it’s unclear whether the firm did anything legally wrong, she said. “It’s mis-selling.”