Binance USA Closes $1 Billion Voyager Acquisition Deal
Important takeaways
- Binance.US withdraws from Voyager acquisition deal.
- The company blamed the “hostile and uncertain regulatory climate in the United States” for the decision.
- Voyager will distribute cash and crypto to its customers through its own platform.
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Binance.US has decided to pull out of its $1 billion acquisition deal for Voyager, citing a “hostile and uncertain” regulatory environment.
Acquisition agreement Nuked
Voyager creditors can’t catch a break.
The bankrupt crypto loan company announced on Twitter yesterday that it had received a letter from Binance.US indicating that it would terminate the purchase agreement for Voyager assets.
Voyager Digital archived for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022, shortly after crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital defaulted on a $650 million loan to the company. Voyager then decided to auction off its crypto assets as part of its restructuring plan, with FTX being the highest bidder. When FTX’s implosion forced Voyager to seek a new buyer, the company struck a $1 billion buyout deal with Binance.US.
The purchase of Voyager assets by Binance.US faced fierce opposition from regulators. Both the Securities and Exchange Commission and United States Attorney Damian Williams filed motions to delay the acquisition, which were denied by the court.
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao suggested on Twitter that Binance’s sudden decision may actually have been due to regulatory pressure. When crypto personality Hsaka tweeted “[In before] Binance withdrawing from the Voyager deal is part of the terms of an imminent settlement with the CFTC,” Zhao answered to the post with an emoji on the shoulders.
“While our hope through this [acquisition] process was to help Voyager’s customers access their crypto in kind, the hostile and uncertain regulatory climate in the US has introduced an unpredictable operating environment that affects the entire US business community, a Binance spokesperson told crypto news outlet The Block.
Voyager indicated that, pursuant to its court-approved restructuring plan, it will now distribute cash and crypto directly to customers through its own platform.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH and several other crypto assets.
