WASHINGTON– The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve Board have issued a joint letter demanding that the crypto brokerage firm Voyager Digital cease and desist from making “false and misleading statements” concerning the company’s FDIC deposit insurance status and take immediate corrective action to address these false statements.
According to the agencies, Voyager and certain officers and employees made false representations online, including its website, mobile app, and social media accounts, stating or suggesting that:
- Voyager itself is FDIC-insured
- Customers who invested with the Voyager cryptocurrency platform would receive FDIC insurance coverage for all funds provided to, and held by, Voyager
- The FDIC would insure customers against the failure of Voyager itself.
Customers Misled
The FDIC and the Fed said that based on the information gathered to date, it appears that these representations likely misled and were relied upon by customers who placed their funds with Voyager and do not have immediate access to their funds.
Similar to rules on the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), the Federal Deposit Insurance Act prohibits any person from representing or implying that an uninsured deposit is insured or from knowingly misrepresenting the extent and manner in which a deposit liability, obligation, certificate, or share is insured under the Act.
According to the government, Voyager maintains a deposit account for the benefit of its customers at Metropolitan Commercial Bank, which is supervised by the board.
“Voyager is not itself insured by the FDIC, though, and so customers who invested through its cryptocurrency platform would not receive insurance coverage in the event of Voyager’s failure,” the government said.