Summary:
- Binance’s American division successfully bid $1.022 billion for assets under bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital.
- The deal could fast-track unlocking customer funds after Voyager collapsed in July 2022 due to market conditions and exposure to Three Arrows Capital.
- Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX bid $1.4 billion for Voyager’s asset before SBF’s crypto exchange crashed in November.
BinanceUS sealed a deal to buy Voyager Digital assets after the crypto broker froze withdrawals and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022. The official statement published on Monday said that BinanceUS was the highest bidder with $1.022 billion.
According to BinanceUS, the bid considered the “fair market value” of Voyager’s crypto portfolio. The massive $1 billion deal also accounted for an incremental value equal to $20 million. BinanceUS noted that should “sets a clear path forward for Voyager customer funds to be unlocked as soon as possible”. This means that Voyager users could see their crypto assets returned earlier than previously expected.
The agreement with BinanceUS is subject to a bankruptcy hearing on January 5, 2023, per Monday’s announcement.
The sale to Binance.US will be consummated pursuant to a Chapter 11 plan, which will be subject to a creditor vote and is subject to other customary closing conditions. Binance.US and the Company will work to close the transaction promptly following approval of the chapter 11 plan by the Bankruptcy Court.
FTX under Sam Bankman-Fried successfully bid $1.4 billion for Voyager’s assets back in September but the deal fell through after SBF’s crypto exchange shuttered in November.
Voyager Digital Crash
Voyager Digital collapsed around mid-2022 following a downturn in the crypto asset prices and the collapse of several centralized finance digital asset entities. Previous reports cited exposure to bankruptcy crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) as another major reason behind Voyager’s tumble.
Voyager’s future was further dimmed after Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire imploded in November. The crypto broker previously secured a $485 million credit line from Alameda Research, SBF’s quantitative trading behemoth.
Other CeFi crypto companies like BlockFi, Celsius, and FTX also filed for bankruptcy amid the 2022 bear market citing liquidity constraints, market volatility, and exposure to other virtual currency entities.