By
Mayowa Adebajo
May 8th, 2024
Voyager has used a ‘reverse merger’ deal with UC Resources Ltd to go public on Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange. Their zero-commission platform will collect cross-exchange liquidity.
Voyager, a cryptocurrency brokerage startup, is going public on Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange. The veterans of Uber and E*Trade launched and fully operate this brokerage company. It will go public via a reverse merger valued at around $60 million.
Many other companies have used the reverse merger strategy to go public instead of participating in an IPO. As we published last month, Bithumb also entered into a reverse merger with Blockchain Industries Inc to go public in the U.S. Although reverse mergers are gaining steam currently, Slack decided to go public using the IPO method as we announced recently.
In the case of Voyager, it will start trading on February 11. The brokerage startup entered a reverse merger with an inactive mineral exploration firm, UC Resources Ltd. The merged entity became Voyager Digital (Canada) Ltd. That deal reached finalization on February 7 with Voyager co-founder and CEO Stephen Ehrlich saying:
“This is a crucial step for our growing company as we now have a solid capital base with which to grow, expand and continually improve our offering for investors”
He also said that the merger will enhance transparency to Voyager’s clients through the mandatory periodic disclosures of their financials. The disclosures are the terms and conditions set by the Canadian securities regulators for all companies trading within their jurisdiction.
The Launch
The startup’s plans to go live in the fourth quarter had to be postponed. In that context, the firm’s CMO Steve Capone alleged that their waiting list has already hit “the six figures” range. Voyager has also decided to offer $15 in bitcoin for initial retail customers to make early sign-ups attractive. The platform’s launch is scheduled for later this month.
Ehrlich said that the ability to issue publicly traded shares will provide his company with a currency. They will then use the currency to make strategic acquisitions to develop a nascent business. He added:
“We’re actively looking for parts of the crypto ecosystem that fit with us, that fit with our mission and our culture. Having cash plus a public currency will make us more efficient and give us more opportunities.”
The company plans to offer zero-commission crypto trading to retail investors. Also, they will let retail and institutional investors trade cryptos across many exchanges using a single mobile application account. A smart order routing system will provide mobile users with the best prices available.
The No-fee Platform
As we explained earlier, the crypto asset brokerage aimed to offer a no-fee cryptocurrency trading platform. The company is going to operate and manage its platform according to the principles of the aggregation engine for cryptocurrency prices. Voyager will make a spread instead of charging commissions for this service.
The spread will arise in the instance that orders are executed at levels;
“Better than quoted at time of order submission, resulting in price improvement for the customer and revenue for Voyager”
As explained by Capone who also said that price improvement is not a surety while zero-commission is. Currently, the platform is in a beta testing stage available exclusively although the public launch will follow soon. At least 10 exchanges and market movers have already signed up in the platform. Moreover, Voyager has already established money transmission licenses in over 10 states with almost 30 applications in the pending stage.
By giving a way to collect cross-exchange liquidity, Voyager is contributing to making the cryptocurrency ecosystem anti-fragile and more robust. The interconnectivity may, in turn, provide some form of stability and uniformity in the crypto industry. Thus, it will build a more mature market and ecosystem.