Binance.US To Pay $1.02 Billion To Get Insolvent Voyager Digital’s Assets ⋆ ZyCrypto

Binance.US, the American entity of the eponymous global exchange, has agreed to buy the assets of the now-bankrupt crypto brokerage firm Voyager Digital for a whopping $1.022 billion.

A Monday announcement notes that Binance.US emerged as the “highest and best bid” for its assets.

Binance.US Wins Bid To Acquire Voyager 

Voyager seems to have finally found a buyer for its assets.

The U.S. unit of Binance will pay Voyager $1.022 billion, representing the lender’s crypto portfolio (valued at around $1.002 billion), and an additional consideration equal to $20 million of incremental value.

The deal is expected to be closed by April 2023. However, it won’t go through until the bankruptcy court approves the purchase agreement on January 5. Meanwhile, Binance has agreed to make a $10 million deposit in good faith and will refund Voyager for some expenses up to a maximum of $15 million.

After crypto prices plunged, Voyager on 1st July blocked customers from withdrawing their money. Its clients thereon became company creditors in bankruptcy court, forced to get in line with restructuring lawyers and financiers as rookie participants in a potentially gruelling process to get their crypto back.

Finally, A Way Out For Users?

Binance.US is effectively bailing out Voyager Digital users as it “aims to return crypto to customers in kind, in accordance with court-approved disbursements and platform capabilities.”

“We hope our selection brings to an end a painful bankruptcy process which saw customers unfairly dragged into it at no fault of their own,” Binance.US president and CEO Brian Schroder tweeted.

He added that once the deal is completed, Voyager users will finally be able to access their crypto funds via new accounts at Binance.US by as early as March 2023.

Prior to its downfall, Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX had won a $1.4 billion auction to acquire Voyager’s assets, beating out competitors Binance and Wave Financial. But with the exchange itself filing for bankruptcy in November, those plans changed.