Binance.US Backs Out of $1.3 Billion Voyager Deal

investopedia.com:

Binance.US has pulled out of a $1.3 billion agreement to purchase the bankrupt crypto lender Voyager.

The deal was announced at the end of last year and was precipitated by Voyager's bankruptcy, which was filed in July.The exchange blamed the «hostile and uncertain regulatory climate in the United States» for creating an unstable environment where the deal could not move forward.

In mid-March, the Department of Justice appealed Voyager's bankruptcy plan. The government said the bankruptcy protections and subsequent sale of the company's assets to Binance would give approval to illegal transactions and unregistered securities.

At the end of March, a judge temporarily paused the deal to allow federal officials time to challenge the transaction. Voyager's lawyers warned that Binance might cancel the deal because of the delay.

For its part, Voyager said it would move forward with the Chapter 11 process by directly distributing cash and crypto to its customers.The company will have more information on that process for customers in the coming days. Binance will be required to destroy any information about Voyager customers, the bankrupt lender said.

Voyager was one of the many victims of the «crypto winter,» and went bankrupt last summer after the crash left it unable to honor withdrawals from its users. The sale process had been difficult from the start when FTX won the bid for the company and subsequently collapsed.