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Judge Clears Binance.US Bid to Acquire Bankrupt Crypto Lender Voyager Digital

On Tuesday, January 11, bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital received initial approval to sell its assets to Binance.US in a proposed $1 billion deal. In New York, US Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles gave a green flag to Voyager to proceed with its purchase agreement with Binance.US.

However, the judge has asked other attorneys working on the deal to revise the proposed order documents before approving them. The deal is currently subject to another hearing in March 2023 and would require approval from a majority of Voyager’s creditors.

Crypto lender Voyager Digital had initially agreed to sell itself to FTX. But following the collapse of FTX in November 2022, they decided to reopen the bidding process after which Binance.US managed to grab the deal last month.

Joshua Sussberg, the attorney representing voyager Digital noted that the bankrupt crypto lender was cooperating with the US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), even during the holiday season. He also noted that Voyager is looking to address any issues so that CFIUS could approve the transaction. “We are coordinating with Binance and their attorneys to not only deal with that inquiry but to voluntarily submit an application to move this process along,” Sussberg said.

In yesterday’s hearing speaking on behalf of Voyager, Kirkland & Ellis partner Christine Okike added that lawyers had “resolved for the purposes of today” objections made by the SEC and the state of New Jersey. “The debtors submit that we have performed due diligence on Binance US, and Binance US’s financials show that it has ample cash on hand to pay the debtors up to $35 million in cash, the maximum amount that may be due,” she said.

Binance.US Deal for Voyager Creditors

Voyager attorney Joshua Sussberg believes that moving forward on the deal with Binance.US would be in the best interest of Voyager’s creditors. “We do not want to delay getting money getting crypto back into our customers’ hands. Importantly … we also took a very hard look at a standalone self-liquidation … the self-liquidation auction is not an option that is going to put the most money in our customers’ pockets,” Sussborg said.

The Binance transaction involves $20 million in cash payments and an agreement of transferring Voyager’s customers to Binance.US. As per Voyager’s estimates, the sale would allow customers to recover 51% of the value of their deposits at the time of bankruptcy filing.

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Judge Clears Binance.US Bid to Acquire Bankrupt Crypto Lender Voyager Digital