Bankrupt Crypto Lender Voyager's CFO To Step Down Months After Appointment

Ashwin Prithipaul, the Chief Financial Officer of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital Ltd, is expected to leave the company. The crypto firm said on Friday that the Finance Head would resign after a "transition period" to pursue other opportunities and that Chief Executive Officer Stephen Ehrlich will assume the role in the interim.

Prithipaul has served as CFO of the firm since May, according to his LinkedIn profile. In the past, he was the CFO at crypto exchange DriveDigital for nine months, and before that he was the CFO at crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital.

Voyager Digital collapsed due to its outstanding liquidity issues during the harsh winter period that started in May this year. As a result, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July to help contain the situation after suspending withdrawals on its platform.

The crypto winter triggered by the collapse of the algorithmic Terra and its ecosystem led to the crash of almost all the cryptocurrencies and threw the whole industry into crisis.

Many crypto-related firms struggled to keep their balance. Voyager became one of the highest-profile crypto companies to go out of business amid this year's market crash. The firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July with outstanding liabilities of as much as $10 billion.

The company’s downfall came shortly after one of its largest debtors, the Singapore-based crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), filed for bankruptcy in July, leaving its user funds at risk. 3AC owed Voyager more than $650 million in the stablecoin USDC and Bitcoin.

Voyager initiated the process of selling off its assets through auction exercise at the beginning of this month. The auction for the New York-based firm’s assets started on September 13.

Crypto exchanges Binance and FTX have reportedly made the top bids of approximately $50 million each for Voyager’s assets. But Binance’s current bid is considered slightly higher than that offered by FTX. Other bidders reportedly include digital asset investment manager Wave Financial and digital currency trading platform CrossTower.

The announcement for the winning bid is expected on September 29, although it could come earlier before that date.