Billion-Dollar Voyager Deal Green-Lit For Binance.US

Binance.US can now move ahead with its plan to acquire bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital’s assets for $1.3 billion. 

US Judge Approves Voyager Deal

A United States bankruptcy judge has approved Voyager Digital’s restructuring plan to sell its assets and customers to Binance.US in a $1.3 billion deal. The acquisition deal had already received an initial nod of approval from the court back in January. During a hearing in New York city on Tuesday, U.S. bankruptcy judge Michael Wiles approved the restructuring plan, which is ultimately based on the acquisition of the bankrupt organization by Binance.US. As part of the acquisition deal, the latter will pay $20 million in cash to Voyager and will take on the crypto assets as well as the customer base of the defunct crypto lender.  

Undue Scrutiny From Government Bodies 

The court approval comes after the SEC had been expressing mild objections against this acquisition. In a hearing last week, SEC attorney William Uptegrove expressed that the regulator’s investigators believe that Binance.US is operating an unregistered securities exchange. However, Judge Wiles was not convinced, claiming that the SEC did not back up their claim with any proper evidence. He also admonished them for waiting till the last minute to raise this concern. 

Other than the SEC, another government body has been taking a closer look at the deal. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has also been scrutinizing the deal, as they are investigating national security risks associated with foreign investment in Voyager. 

Voyager Could Still Back Out

There are some matters to overcome before the sale goes through completely. Even though the approval means that Voyager could start transferring customer accounts to Binance, the crypto lender could still walk away from the deal. The company’s financial advisors have stated that the next four weeks will be devoted to focusing on Binance.US’s commitment to the acquisition, its regulatory compliance, and the security measures of its customer deposits. Binance.US, which is based out of Palo Alto, has been addressing these concerns by distancing itself from its international parent company Binance, which is headed by Chinese-born and Singapore-based Changpeng Zhao. 

Customers Could Withdraw Funds Soon

If Voyager decides to go through with the sale, its customers will hold accounts in the Binance.US platform and will finally be able to start making withdrawals since their accounts were frozen last summer. The withdrawal freeze was followed shortly by the crypto lender declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of the TerraUSD contagion. The company has estimated that the sale will allow customers to recover 73% of their deposits, valued at the time of the bankruptcy filing. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.