Voyager Crypto Review

Voyager created one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges that was easily accessible to everyday consumers. However, in the summer of 2022, it faced issues with bad loans, and was forced into bankruptcy.

As a result of these issues, Voyager suspended customer deposits and withdrawals, and customers were concerned that they would lose all of their investments.

On September 27, 2022, it was announced that cryptocurrency exchange FTX would purchase Voyager, which should significantly increase the odds that customers will get at least some of their assets back (estimates are that it will be over 70%). However, then FTX filed for bankruptcy.

On December 20, 2022, Binance announced that it would acquire Voyager.

Until the merger is completed, Voyager is inaccessible to consumers. Learn more here.

Editor's Note: This review introduction has been updated to reflect the current status of the Voyager bankruptcy and acquisition. The review information below is outdated but left up for consumers to see.

Who Is Voyager Crypto?

Voyager is a US-regulated cryptocurrency broker that pays high interest rates on select cryptocurrencies. Voyager was founded in 2017 and is based in New York City. It’s CEO is Stephen Ehrlich. The company raised $100.1 million and has since gone public. It trades in Canada and on the US OTC market under the ticker VYGVF.

What Do They Offer?

Voyager is an app-based cryptocurrency broker. It's important to understand that it isn’t an exchange. Instead, Voyager connects with and routes orders to over a dozen exchanges where they're executed. This happens behind the scenes but gives the appearance that you're trading directly on Voyager.

There are over 50 digital assets available on the platform. Voyager’s competitive edge includes "commission-free" trades and high interest rates on certain coins. 

Plus, they offer access to popular assets like Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and more.

Earning Interest

Voyager offer interest rates of up to 1% to 9% on a variety of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. Minimums and rates are listed below for 5 of the 24 coins that you can currently earn interest on.

Compared to other exchanges such as Celsius, BlockFi, and Nexo, some of Voyager’s interest rates are lower. Those exchanges also don’t have minimums. However, Voyager does offer interest on certain coins that aren’t available on the other three exchanges.

Related: The Top Crypto Savings Accounts Of 2022

Voyager Wallet

You can transfer assets from an external wallet to your Voyager account/wallet. Like Coinbase, the account wallet is not yours (i.e., not your keys, not your coin). If Voyager wants to freeze your account, along with any assets in it, they can. And there isn’t much you can do about it.

Note that assets must be stored in your Voyager wallet rather than an external wallet to earn interest. When transferring funds out of your Voyager wallet and to an external wallet, you may have to wait a couple of days before the transfer is processed.

Availability

Voyager is available in every U.S. state except New York. New York does always seems to be left out when it comes to US-based crypto exchanges. This due to New York state’s more strict financial regulations. Voyager does say, thought, that it's working to obtain a license in the state.

Ease Of Use

Honestly, while Voyager tries to make the crypto purchasing experience easy, we've found their app and platform to be annoying to use. First, it's only available on mobile - and that's challenging when moving crypto assets between accounts. Copy/paste and flipping back and forth between apps can lead to errors.

Second, their app has issues loading pages frequently enough we had to document it. The app itself is a hybrid of an app and loading webpages from their site. As a result, you can expect to see pages like this frequently (yes, that's a loading screen):

As a result, we found we had to exit the app and reload to do a lot of things. Plus, you get emails like this:

Order Types

Voyager Crypto offers both market and limit order types. A limit order lets you set a specific price to execute a trade. A market order, on the other hand, will execute at whatever the price is at the moment the trade is set through. This can often result in an inferior trade price.

It should be noted that when placing a limit order in the Voyager app, you can’t see the bid x ask unless you leave the order page and go back to the crypto page. The bid x ask (spread) is important when placing a trade. Sellers trade on the bid while buyers trade on the ask. But when you can’t see either value, it makes setting a limit order difficult.

Some users have also complained that limit orders have a lower chance of executing. And this forces traders to use the higher spread by going through market orders.

Another problem is that you can’t go directly from crypto to crypto on Voyager. You have to make a stop at USD, sell your crypto, and then buy another crypto using USD.

Referral Program

If you can convince a friend to sign up with Voyager, deposit $100, and then trade that $100, you’ll both earn $25 worth of Bitcoin.

However, the bid x ask spread could take a large chunk out of that $100. Rather than trading a volatile coin, a better option may be to trade a stablecoin such as USDC (US Dollar Coin), which could help to maintain most of the account’s original deposit.

How Does Voyager Compare?

Voyager does some things well, but is definitely not the only crypto platform. Make sure you compare Voyager to the best crypto trading exchanges.

Are There Any Fees?

Voyager calls itself a commission-free platform and promises that you'll never pay more than the price you see quoted on your order. But Voyager says that thanks to its "Smart Order Routing" system, it will more often than not be able to fill the order at a lower price than what was quoted.

If Voyager is able to provide price improvement on your order, it will keep a portion of the savings for itself. This is essentially Voyager's version of a spread-based fee. The big difference with Voyager, however, is that it will only earn a fee if you save money too (i.e. you receive a lower price than you were quoted).

It's unclear exactly how big of a cut of the price improvement that Voyager will keep for itself. It says that "share of price improvement is variable and is determined by Voyager’s proprietary fills algorithm." In addition to receiving this undefined share of price improvement, Voyager also charges a fee on crypto withdrawals that varies by coin.

How Do I Open An Account?

You can visit the Voyager Crypto website to download the app and open an account. Note that a desktop version of the platform isn't yet available (although a beta is currently in a closed test). If you use this link to sign up, you can earn $25 of Bitcoin after you trade $100 worth of crypto.

Is My Money Safe?

Voyager’s website is encrypted. Plus, the company is a licensed and regulated public company in the US. As such, Voyager is held to a higher standard of financial transparency than private crypto companies and is also publicly audited. Additionally, all USD on deposit with Voyager is FDIC-insured up to $250,000

However, as noted by their current Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Voyager has co-mingled customer and business assets. As of July 5, customer assets are frozen and users cannot withdrawal their funds. Voyager has recently sent out communication that crypto-asset holders may NOT receive everything their owned back. This is a big red flag.

Is It Worth It?

If you’re a HODL’er, the high interest rates offered by Voyager may be appealing. You don’t have to hold volatile coins as a stable coin such as USDC can be used. However, earning interest with Voyager still shouldn't be confused with a high-yield savings account that is riskless, cash-based, and FDIC insured.

Beginner cryptocurrency traders may find Voyager easy to use. It also brings a certain peace of mind to know that they are US-regulated. However, with no desktop platform and a somewhat cumbersome process for placing limit orders, Voyager Crypto may not appeal to day traders. Compare all the best cryptocurrency exchanges here >>>

Voyager Crypto Features