US Bankruptcy Judge Approves Binance.US $1.3B Deal for Voyager Digital, but Hurdles Remain – Here's the Latest
Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital is allowed to sell its assets to Binance's American arm, Binance.US, and transfer its customers to the exchange - but this is not the end.
At a hearing in New York on Tuesday, US Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles approved Voyager's restructuring plan, thus allowing it to sell its assets to Binance.US in a deal valued at $1.3 billion, Reuters reported.
It stated that the judge approved the plan after he overruled the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s "vague" objection to the acquisition. Wiles said that the regulator had raised the issue of Binance.US operating an unregistered securities exchange at the last minute and that it failed to present any evidence that this was the case.
After the deal is closed, customers will finally be able to make withdrawals, with estimates that users will be able to recover 73% of the value of their deposits at the time of Voyager's bankruptcy filing.
That said, Voyager is not obligated to accept the exchange's offer. It will take up to a month for the company to review "new questions" about Binance.US's commitment to the acquisition, its regulatory compliance, and the security of customer deposits, said the report, citing Voyager's financial advisors.
Furthermore, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is investigating national security risks associated with foreign investment in Voyager, and this could be an obstacle to the acquisition as well.
As a reminder, Voyager filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in July, followed by a bidding process in which Binance and the FTX exchange participated. At the end of October, FTX secured the approval of a US bankruptcy court to take over Voyager’s assets - but it infamously collapsed
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