Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_61d36436a979b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Partnerships with influencers like Nascar driver Landon Cassill and NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski helped build Voyager brand awareness last year</li>
 <li>The firm is looking to move more into NFTs and other parts of the metaverse in 2022, according to Voyager CMO Pam Kramer</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



<a href="https://www.investvoyager.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Voyager Digital</a> is focused on continuing to build its brand in 2022 through more video-driven content that highlights consumer voices as well as partnerships that could move beyond the sports world.&nbsp;



Crypto marketing competition has heated up as companies in the space spent the last year looking to push their brands into the mainstream.&nbsp;



“Consumer financial services has long been an important advertiser and an important player in the media marketing landscape,” Voyager Chief Marketing Officer Pam Kramer told Blockworks in an interview. “The crypto category, now as it emerges, is no exception.”



Connecting with people and influencers who can talk about their experience with crypto is a key part of Voyager’s strategy, Kramer noted. The publicly traded company partnered with Nascar driver Landon Cassill in June, as well as NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski in September.&nbsp;



Such users of Voyager’s crypto platform can spread the firm’s message especially quickly through the internet, the executive explained, noting that the firm will look to further “elevate the voices” of its users going forward.&nbsp;



“It’s less about big media buys and more about tapping into the community,” Kramer said.



Crypto.com also <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-cmo-on-how-company-went-from-app-to-global-brand/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">had a busy year</a> of marketing, capped off by a 20-year, $700 million deal for the naming rights of what was formerly the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Crypto exchange FTX partnered with a handful of high-profile athletes throughout the year, including Tom Brady, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-names-stephen-curry-a-global-ambassador/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Steph Curry</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-inks-deal-with-mlb-star-shohei-ohtani/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shohei Ohtani</a>.&nbsp;



Kramer said she expects crypto to grow from its current level of a few hundred million users to a billion users within the next four or so years. Those billion users will be using a variety of platforms, she said, noting that there is “plenty of room” for multiple players in the space.



“I think over the next 12 to 24 months, we’re going to see the brands start to differentiate and each one develop a personality and connect with different groups of consumers,” Kramer noted.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A busy year</h3>



Kramer, who knew Voyager CEO Steve Ehrlich from her time working at ETrade Financial from 1995 to 2004, joined Voyager as its chief marketing officer in March.



At ETrade, Kramer said she ran focus groups in 1995 with people who said they would be uncomfortable interacting with their money online. That changed quickly over the next decade, she noted, adding that the perceptions around crypto are also morphing.



“I realized very quickly that we were in the middle of a culture change and that crypto was going to fundamentally change the way we interact with money and the financial world,” Kramer said.&nbsp;



Focused on continuing Voyager’s growth when she entered the CMO role in 2021, Kramer noted that the firm’s funded accounts grew from 43,000 at the end of 2020 to more than 1 million a year later.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We’ve developed a mantra that is ‘crypto for all’ and developed a brand focus that is very much around humanity, around making crypto less cryptic and about making it accessible [so it] feels like they can participate in and earn the rewards of this new frontier,” Kramer said.</blockquote>



The firm <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/voyager-digital-extends-crypto-based-partnership-with-nascar-driver-landon-cassill-in-collaboration-with-kaulig-racing-301440789.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">extended its partnership with Cassill last month</a> for two more years. The racecar driver will be paid with a crypto portfolio that includes bitcoin (BTC), the voyager token (VGX), USD coin (USDC), stormX (STMX) and avalanche (AVAX).&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I am excited to not only have a shot at winning races, but to bring awareness to crypto and help educate people in a space that I&#8217;ve been personally invested in for a number of years,&#8221; Cassill said in a statement at the time of the extension.



Voyager also announced a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-digital-partners-with-dallas-mavericks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnership with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks</a> in October to bolster brand awareness and drive cryptocurrency adoption through educational programs.



Most recently, Voyager announced a multi-year agreement with The National Women’s Soccer League. The firm will fund crypto accounts for each rostered player in the league and will provide them with financial education.



<a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/cnbc-invest-in-you-august-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A CNBC survey</a> published last summer found that men are more than twice as likely to invest in cryptocurrencies than women.&nbsp;



“This is one piece of helping to close that gender gap,” Kramer said of the partnership.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">More on the horizon</h3>



One of the biggest challenges of marketing in the crypto space is helping a broad audience understand what can be a realm filled with memes, complicated lingo, and misconceptions, Kramer said.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“It’s not just educating; It’s almost helping to say, ‘This thing you thought about [crypto],&nbsp; it’s not real so let’s help you not only learn about it but start new associations,’” she explained. “That’s where people like Gronk and Landon and others really help.”</blockquote>



Voyager has done a lot of focused digital media and paid social media, and will continue to do so. It will create more video-driven content across those channels, Kramer said.



Ren Besnard, vice president of marketing at Unstoppable Domains, previously told Blockworks that he predicts a crypto company will have the best advertisement during Super Bowl LVI in February. 



When asked whether the firm was planning any marketing efforts around the game, slated for Feb. 13, Kramer said the firm is looking to potentially advertise around spring sports in March.



While much of big crypto marketing efforts to date have happened <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-companies-dive-further-into-sports-sphere/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">within the sports world</a>, Voyager is looking at partnerships in other industries as well, Kramer said.&nbsp;



“Just like I look at the profiles of our customers, we look at what else they’re interested in — what kinds of music, what kinds of entertainment and how people spend their time,” Kramer said.



Today, Voyager is a platform where users can buy and sell roughly 70 cryptocurrencies, but it&#8217;s looking to move more into NFTs and other parts of the metaverse, Kramer added.



Ehrlich said <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-looking-to-enter-nft-space-in-2022-ceo-says/">during an October earnings call</a> that crypto market maker Alameda Research, which <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/a16z-invests-250m-in-alchemy-alameda-backs-voyager-with-75m/">invested $75 million in Voyager</a> that month, would help it get more involved in the NFT space. He noted at the time that Voyager intends to make NFTs on multiple platforms accessible to its two million or so users and could look to build its own NFTs through its relationships with Cassill and Gronkowski.



“We want to be able to offer access to NFTs in the same way we offer access to the crypto assets today,” Kramer said, “so really making it simple and broad.”



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Voyager CMO: Crypto is ‘Changing the Way We Interact with Money’

<div id="highlights-block_617c4ec74c780" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Recent partnership with Alameda Research will help firm with NFTs, which “are core to what we want to bring to the market in 2022,” Voyager CEO Steve Ehlrich said</li>
 <li>Despite lower revenues in quarter ended Sept. 30, executive notes current quarter revenues could be record highs</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



While Voyager Digital is looking to bring crypto-backed debit cards and expanding internationally in the near-term, the company is also focused on delving into the NFT space next year through a new partnership.



The publicly traded cryptocurrency platform announced yesterday <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/a16z-invests-250m-in-alchemy-alameda-backs-voyager-with-75m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a $75 million investment </a>from crypto market maker Alameda Research, which trades over $5 billion per day. CEO Steve Ehrlich said that in addition to aiding the firm on the order flow and asset management front, Alameda would also ultimately help Voyager get more involved in the NFT space. 



“They understand the NFT space; they’ve helped build out the Solana network,” he said of Alameda Research during an earnings call on Friday. “NFTs are core to what we want to bring to the market in 2022, and having some more assistance as we grow out our own teams to do that is very important for us.”



Ehrlich said Voyager intends to make NFTs on multiple platforms accessible to its users, which now totals more than 2 million.&nbsp;



Voyager could look to build its own NFTs, the CEO said, noting the firm’s relationships with NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski and Nascar driver Landon Cassill. But more than creating its own, the company will focus on offering access to NFTs and its marketplaces to as many people as possible.



“Customers don’t know how the internet works still today — 20-something years after the internet, but they use it,” Ehrlich said. “We want them to use the system and make it easy, and that’s why we look at the NFTs and how we bring that marketplace — whether it’s on Solana, Algorand, Avalanche or Ethereum.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Continued growth&nbsp;</h3>



Ehrlich’s remarks came during a conference call summarizing Voyager’s fiscal year 2021, which ended on June 30. The company reported total revenue of $175 million during the year, up from $1 million during the prior year. Assets under management grew from $35 million to $2.6 billion during the one-year span, as funded accounts shot up from 23,000 to 665,000.



Transaction revenue of $154 million beat estimates of $143 million, according to a note authored by Chris Allen, an analyst at Compass Pointe Research &amp; Trading. Fees from crypto assets loaned were $21 million, missing the research firm’s missing our $31 million estimate.



Voyager earlier this month <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-digital-preliminary-revenue-drops-40-from-previous-quarter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">projected its revenue</a> for its fiscal 2022 first quarter ending on Sept. 30 to be between $63 million and $67 million, down from $109 million in the previous quarter.



Ehrlich said Friday that the firm last quarter focused on its account growth, which he called the most important long-term metric and strategy. Sustaining that growth used a lot of expenses, he added.&nbsp;



October has been an active month for Voyager, Ehrlich said, noting continued account growth and trading volume.



“I think we’re gaining market share on people,” he said, adding that the Voyager app was ranked 55th in the US this morning on the Apple Store. “With the coins we have, with the ease of use on the platform and how intuitive it is…we’re gaining market share.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



The CEO partly attributed the app boost from its most recent <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-digital-partners-with-dallas-mavericks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnership with the Dallas Mavericks</a>. In conjunction with the deal, the company offered $100 worth of bitcoin to those who download the app, deposited $100 and traded at least $10. 



“The current quarter could achieve record revenue…validating our strategy to focus on account growth,” Ehlrich said. “We expect to continue to invest heavily into marketing, product development and security.”



To keep up with the growth, Voyager expects to double its headcount in the next six to nine months, as it will seek to hire more developers, product managers and marketers.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What’s next?&nbsp;&nbsp;</h3>



Voyager CFO Evan Psaropoulos said the company began engaging with borrowers to accommodate additional loan capacity earlier this year and expects to continue seeing the benefits of these lending relationships.&nbsp;



Voyager partnered with Blockdaemon in April to enable its users to earn interest on a wider scope of coins offered on the platform, and Psaropoulos said Voyager expects to see consistent staking revenues of $40 million to $50 million per quarter, beginning this quarter.



As for future offerings aside from NFTs, the company’s near-term focuses include launching an enhanced loyalty rewards program and a crypto-backed debit card, as well as expanding to Europe, according to Ehrlich. The CEO noted that European regulators earlier this month <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/voyager-digital-secures-final-approval-to-begin-operations-in-europe-301399023.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">approved Voyager</a> to serve customers in France and the European Union.



Coinify, the crypto payment platform Voyager recently acquired that offers individual payment processing in 15 cryptocurrencies and transaction settlement in 20 fiat currencies, “will be the backbone” of Voyager’s launch expansion to Europe, Ehrlich noted.



Voyager is also looking into offering credit cards or collateralized loans.



“With the significant assets we have, [customers are] going to want to borrow against some of those assets with us, so we’re looking hard at the credit side … but those are longer-term projects for us.”