Voyager Digital has been ordered to remove “false and misleading” claims that its customers’ deposit accounts are FDIC insured.
Seth Rosebrockfrom and Jason Gonzalez, Assistant General Counsel at the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), wrote a joint letter to Voyager Digital on July 28 saying customers who placed funds with Voyager and now no longer have access to it.
Voyager Digital accused of misleading customers
According to the Fed and the FDIC, Voyager “made various representations online, including its website, mobile app, and social media accounts.”
“These representations are false and misleading and, based on the information we have to date, it appears that the representations likely misled and were relied upon by customers who placed their funds with Voyager and do not have immediate access to their funds,” the letter stated.
Voyager’s website, mobile app, and social media accounts said:
“(1) Voyager itself is FDIC-insured; (2) customers who invested with the Voyager cryptocurrency platform would receive FDIC insurance coverage for all funds provided to, held by, on, or with Voyager; and (3) the FDIC would insure customers against the failure of Voyager itself.”
On a deep end
In addition, Voyager was required in the letter to submit written proof of compliance with the regulator within two days and to give a comprehensive list of all statements mentioning FDIC insurance within 10 days.
Additionally, it stated that even if Voyager complied with the requests made in the cease-and-desist letter, the regulator may still take additional measures if they were judged necessary.
On its website, Voyager currently claims that, in early 2021 and early 2022, it collaborated with the FDIC to revise and clarify terminology relating to FDIC insurance.
The language relating to FDIC insurance currently states that the Metropolitan Commercial Bank (MCB) is the account holder and that the USD in the Voyager cash account is FDIC insured.