For nearly 16 months, crypto brokerage firm Voyager Digital and crypto wallet company Ethos have been working together on a variety of projects. So, it was not a surprise to see Voyager further cement the relationship, acquiring Ethos in a deal earlier this month.
These two companies first began working together in September 2018. Ethos had just started in June of that year, and months later the two companies formed a partnership to help create a platform that would make the trading of cryptocurrencies to fiat currencies a whole lot simpler. That cooperative venture was so successful that the two continued to work together.
The two also worked on a self-custody project that was created for Voyager users.
There are a lot of moving parts to make this deal come together. Voyager will purchase Ethos for $4 million, but that amount is not to be paid in cash and not up front either. Voyager will pay for the startup with its shares, giving seven million total shares to Ethos. That works out to about $4 million or $5.6 million CAD. About 3.3 million of the stock will be paid at the end of March, with none being paid upfront.
Another million will be placed in a type of escrow account. The amount will be evenly distributed over a 24 month period of time until the remaining portion is paid. The remaining 2.6 million shares will be held until after the 24 month period is completed and will be distributed to meet any “further indemnity claims.”
Ethos began as a company that provided a universal wallet to users, but developed a blockchain technology and IP that Voyager found would be the perfect addition to their own systems. Ethos Bedrock was designed to make both blockchain and cryptographic protocols available to financial institutions as internet protocols, which would provide greater efficiency and security.
According to the Ethos website, these processes have been “battle tested” and they have provided the latest in “digital asset technology.” This should help Voyager to provide greater brokerage and lending, as well as help to safeguard customer assets. However, the process will take some time to fully implement, as it is not expected that the Ethos blockchain technology will be completely integrated for months.
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