Binance and FTX Lead $50M Race to Purchase Voyager’s Assets: Report

Crypto exchanges Binance and FTX have reportedly made the top bids of approximately $50 million each for the assets of the bankrupt crypto lending firm Voyager Digital.

Binance’s current bid is slightly higher than that offered by FTX, according to a Tuesday report by the Wall Street Journal citing sources familiar with the matter.

The WSJ‘s sources said that neither offer had been accepted yet.

Voyager, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July this year with outstanding liabilities of as much as $10 billion, initiated the process of selling its assets at the beginning of this month.

The auction for the New York-based firm’s assets began on September 13. Other bidders reportedly include digital asset manager Wave Financial and trading platform CrossTower.

The winning bid is expected to be announced on September 29, although an announcement could come before that date.

Voyager and FTX

Voyager became one of the highest-profile crypto firms to go out of business amid this year’s market crash.

The firm’s demise came shortly after one of its largest debtors, the Singapore-based crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), filed for bankruptcy in July, leaving its user funds at risk. 3AC owed Voyager more than $650 million in Bitcoin and the stablecoin USDC.

Another borrower was Alameda Research, a crypto trading firm founded by crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, who is also the owner of FTX.

Alameda owed the New York-based firm about $377 million worth of cryptocurrencies at the time of the bankruptcy filing. In June, just prior to Voyager filing for bankruptcy, Alameda extended two credit lines to Voyager—one for $200 million in cash and a second for 15,000 Bitcoin.

When Voyager filed for bankruptcy, Alameda was its largest creditor, with an unsecured $75 million loan.

Earlier this week, Alameda agreed to repay about $200 million worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum in exchange for $160 million in collateral Voyager had been holding.

Shortly after Voyager’s bankruptcy, FTX announced plans to acquire the troubled crypto lender; however, Voyager dismissed the proposed rescue deal, dubbing it “a low-ball bid dressed up as a white knight rescue.”