Binance.US calls off $1.3 billion deal to buy bankrupt crypto firm Voyager
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It is the second failed deal for Voyager, which has been trying to exit bankruptcy and repay its customers.
PHOTO: REUTERS
New York - Binance.US has terminated a US$1 billion (S$.1.3 billion) agreement to purchase the bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital Holdings, less than a week after US regulators dropped their efforts to halt the deal in court.
The decision came after months of wrangling and the intervention of multiple federal and state regulators over the deal.
In a statement, Binance.US said “the hostile and uncertain regulatory climate in the United States has introduced an unpredictable operating environment impacting the entire American business community”.
Voyager said on Twitter: “While this development is disappointing, our Chapter 11 plan allows for direct distribution of cash and crypto to customers via the Voyager platform.
“Consistent with the plan, we will now move swiftly to return value to customers via direct distributions. We will provide more information on next steps and any actions customers need to take in the coming days.”
This is the second failed deal for Voyager, which has been trying to exit bankruptcy and repay its customers since filing for Chapter 11 protection in 2022.
Voyager was among the first examples of crypto platforms that former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried tried to bail out, which at the time earned him a reputation as an industry saviour.
In September, FTX.US won an auction for Voyager assets in an agreement valued at about US$1.4 billion.
Mere months later, with FTX International facing bankruptcy of its own and Bankman-Fried under arrest on criminal charges, that deal collapsed.
In December, Binance.US entered the fray with a proposal worth around US$1 billion at the time, and that would have brought in about US$20 million in cash for Voyager creditors.
On Tuesday, Binance.US sent Voyager a four-paragraph legal notice informing the company that the transaction was being cancelled. The letter did not explain why it was backing out, referring only to sections of the agreement that had set April 18 as the deadline for Voyager to close the deal.
Binance.US had faced significant regulatory pushback on the deal, including objections from the Texas State Securities Board, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Federal Trade Commission.
Texas regulators expressed concerns about the independence of Binance.US from Binance.com, the global crypto exchange giant owned by Zhao Changpeng.
Voyager said it may pursue a reverse termination fee owed by Binance.US in a court filing.
In its own letter, the US exchange demanded its US$10 million deposit back within three days.
Voyager was founded in 2018 as a crypto trading platform and grew rapidly, reaching a peak of 3.5 million users and about US$6 billion worth of cryptocurrency assets, according to court records.
A string of crypto companies collapsed and entered bankruptcy proceedings in 2022.
Crypto lender Celsius Network is facing a three-way auction set for Tuesday.
Meanwhile, FTX agreed to sell LedgerX, its crypto-derivatives platform, to the owner of Miami International Securities Exchange for about US$50 million, pending court approval. BLOOMBERG
