Failure Analysis
Voyager died from asset-liability mismatch masquerading as innovation. The mechanics: they paid customers 8-12% APY by lending those same assets to undercollateralized counterparties, primarily...
Voyager Digital \USA
Voyager promised retail investors a seamless bridge to crypto wealth: earn up to 12% APY on idle crypto holdings, commission-free trading across 60+ coins, and FDIC-insured USD deposits. The pitch was simple—your crypto could work for you like a high-yield savings account, without the friction of traditional exchanges. For millions burned by 2017's exchange hacks and frustrated by Coinbase fees, Voyager felt like the adult in the room: a publicly-traded company offering institutional-grade yields to everyday people.
Discover the reason behind the shutdown and the market before & today
Market Analysis
The crypto yield market in 2024 is a graveyard with green shoots. BlockFi, Celsius, and Voyager's collapses killed retail trust in centralized yield products....
Startup Learnings
Yield is a liability, not a feature. Voyager's 12% APY was a customer acquisition cost disguised as a product benefit. Every basis point above...
Market Potential
The market bifurcated. Retail crypto users now split between self-custody purists (hardware wallets, DeFi) and those who've returned to Coinbase/Kraken's regulated simplicity. There's a...
Difficulty
Rebuilding requires navigating a post-FTX regulatory minefield where yield products face SEC scrutiny, obtaining state-by-state money transmitter licenses, and solving the core problem Voyager...
Scalability
Crypto yield products face structural scalability limits post-2022. As AUM grows, sustainable yield sources shrink—DeFi protocols can't absorb billions at 8%+ without massive risk....
Rebuild & monetization strategy: Resurrect the company
Execution Plan
Phase 2
Integrate Chainlink price feeds for real-time collateral valuation and Fireblocks API for institutional-grade custody of partner funds.
Phase 3
Create white-label API and React dashboard showing real-time loan book, collateral ratios, and proof-of-reserves—designed for fintech compliance teams to embed.
Phase 4
Sign pilot with one Latin American neobank (target: Colombian or Mexican challenger bank with 1M+ users) offering 6% USDC yields to their customers as a 90-day test.
Phase 5
Publish public proof-of-reserves dashboard on collateral.io showing every loan, borrower wallet, collateral type, and LTV ratio updated hourly—make transparency the marketing.
Monetization Strategy
50 basis points annually on all AUM lent through the platform, plus $5K-$25K monthly SaaS fee per partner for compliance dashboards, reporting tools, and API access. If a partner has $100M in customer stablecoins earning yield, Collateral.io makes $500K annually in take rate plus $120K in SaaS fees. Target 10 partners by Year 2 with average $50M AUM each = $2.5M in take rate + $1.2M SaaS = $3.7M ARR. Upsell: premium tier at 75bps for partners who want custom collateral types (tokenized real-world assets, liquid staking derivatives). The model scales with partner AUM, not headcount—each new partner is mostly marginal revenue after initial integration.
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