Binance.US Gives Up On $1B Voyager Acquisition

On Tuesday, April 25th, the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital announced it had received a letter from Binance.US terminating their $1 billion acquisition agreement. Though the company immediately stated it “will now move swiftly to return value to customers via direct distributions”, its VGX token quickly plunged by more than 10%.

Binance.US Pulls Out of Voyager Deal, Cites US Regulatory Uncertainty

This Tuesday, Voyager Digital took to Twitter to reveal it had received a letter from Binance.US stating the latter has decided to terminate their acquisition agreement. While expressing disappointment over the development, the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender announced it “will now move swiftly to return value to customers via direct distribution” as per the terms of its chapter 11 filing.

The company also stated that it will seek to provide more information to its customers about the next step as quickly as possible. About an hour after Voyager’s announcement, Binance.US also took to Twitter to offer its statement on the bankruptcy. The post revealed that the exchange made the “difficult decision” due to the “hostile and uncertain regulatory climate” in the US.

The aggressiveness shown by American regulators toward cryptocurrency platforms has become increasingly disruptive for the industry since the start of the year. Multiple companies have already announced their decision to abandon the US market due to the hostility, and even Coinbase, the largest publicly-traded cryptocurrency exchange, hinted it is considering moving its headquarters out of the country.

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Voyager’s Post-Bankruptcy Acquisition Troubles

While few bankruptcies can be described as smooth. Voyager has had a particularly unlucky run. Its bid to find a buyer for its assets as part of its restructuring plan has been a particularly rocky ride since the initial filing in July 2022. Some of the earlier offers the company received from Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX were even outright dismissed as “not serious”.

By August, the bankrupt lender’s fortunes appeared to have turned and its VGX token soared significantly after it was reported that Voyager has multiple potential buyers. By September, FTX proved to have a winning bid and by October the court approved the deal. Voyager’s fortunes again turned in November when FTX itself collapsed revealing what is widely considered one of the largest frauds in the history of digital assets.

While Voyager finally found a new buyer in the form of Binance.US in December 2022, the process hasn’t been entirely smooth from the very onset. US authorities stepped in to contest the $1 billion agreement almost immediately, and, while a court approved much of the deal in March, the pressure proved enough for Binance.US to forsake the acquisition this Tuesday.

Editorial note (April 25th, 2023, 03:20 PM EST): The article was expanded with additional details, context, and Binance.US’s statement.

Editorial note (April 26th, 2023, 11:10 AM EST): A formatting error was corrected.

What will Voyager’s next step be? Tell us what you think in the comments below.