The Long and Winding Road: The Story of Voyager Digital’s Acquisition by Binance.US
Easing the Woes of Voyager Customers
Voyager Digital customers have been embroiled in a soap opera-like saga for nearly a year now. The crypto-loan platform went under last summer and was one of many companies in the crypto sector to suffer this fate. A few months later, it was announced that FTX would be taking over the assets of the bankrupt platform, but we all know why this ultimately fell through.
Last year, at the end of 2021, it was revealed that the US arm of Binance, Binance.US, had agreed to acquire the assets of the lending platform for just over $1 billion. After months of disputes with US regulators, it appears that the deal is finally going through.
The Agreement with the US Federal Government
Voyager’s Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (UCC) announced on Wednesday via a thread on Twitter that Voyager has reached an agreement with the US Federal Government to proceed with a $1 billion plan to sell its assets to Binance.US.
The UCC stated the following in the Twitter thread:
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‘’Voyager, the UCC, and the government have reached a resolution to allow the plan to proceed and become effective soon.’’
The UCC added that it is working with Voyager to assist Binance.US ‘’in making progress as soon as this provision is approved by the court.”
The Binance Acquisition was Not Without Hurdles
To say that Binance’s acquisition of its US arm did not go smoothly would be an understatement. Crypto news outlets reported that the acquisition was put on hold multiple times. Just three weeks ago, it was temporarily paused by a federal judge at the request of the US government for an emergency stay.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also claimed in February that the deal would be unlawful. One component of the deal, Voyager’s VGX tokens, would qualify as unregistered securities according to the financial watchdog. However, these objections were subsequently dismissed by the judge.
On March 15, the SEC also argued in a motion that the bankruptcy plan would give rise to fraud, theft, or tax evasion. This claim was also eventually rejected by the judge.
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Conclusion
After numerous obstacles, it appears that Binance.US’s acquisition of Voyager Digital has finally been green-lit. Voyager customers will finally have their outstanding funds returned to them. Despite the challenges, the acquisition reflects a willingness by major players in the crypto space to expand their offerings.