“It's terrible,” he said. “I can't buy or sell, and I don't know how long it’s going to be before I can.”
Latest Storm
For many crypto traders, watching the value of their holdings fall, at least occasionally, is to be expected. Losing that investment altogether is almost unfathomable.
Ralpha Twam, a 39-year-old health care recruiter in New Jersey, thought his money was safe on Voyager because it’s FDIC insured. After first trying out crypto in 2017, he opened a Voyager account in November because he heard about rewards the company was offering, like a 9% average percentage yield.
He mostly uses his account for short-term trading, but just deposited about $10,000 two weeks ago — still in U.S. dollars on the platform — and now can’t access any of it, despite the funds not being in any kind of crypto token. He said he feels like the company used “deceptive marketing tactics.”
Voyager has said that those with US dollar deposits will be able to reclaim that money “after a reconciliation and fraud prevention process” is completed, but Twam isn’t optimistic.
“It’s definitely a lesson learned that you have to do your diligence,” he said. “It’s so easy to get lured in, but you have to read the small print.”
--With assistance from Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.