Binance.US and Voyager Digital have reached a consensus on a deal that would allow the former to purchase the assets of the latter, and it is anticipated that customer funds will be made available in the near future. The funds will be returned to the users’ accounts in the same manner as before.
Binance.US will make a deposit of $10 million and will repay Voyager for certain expenses up to the maximum amount of $15 million. The debt that Voyager owes to its consumers accounts for the majority of the company’s $1 billion valuation, while the purchase price totals $20 million and includes repayments to Voyager’s customers.
On January 5th, 2023, the presiding bankruptcy court will hold a hearing to approve the acquisition deal. The sale is additionally contingent upon a creditor’s approval and other usual closing requirements. The agreement enables Voyager to take immediate action to refund value to clients. The deal is set to close by April 18th, 2023.
Is Binance.US and Binance.com the same exchange?
The US-based exchange known as Binance.US is technically autonomous from its global counterpart. Binance was founded in 2017 by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, and within the first five months of its existence, it had more than one million users in the United States. According to Reuters, Zhao planned to eventually split his operations in the United States into a new company called Binance.US in 2019. The purpose of this new company would be to act as a “regulatory inquiry clearing house” to address any concerns raised by federal regulators.
Voyager Digital bankruptcy refresher
After cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) defaulted on a sizable loan position provided by Voyager, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2022. In contrast to the $5.8 billion in assets it had at the end of 2021, the crypto exchange had about $1.3 billion in assets at the time of filing but was owed over $650 million by 3AC. The VGX token, the company’s digital currency, “will have no utility going forward,” according to Voyager’s company disclosures.
There were over 1.7 million people that used Voyager and were all wondering what would happen to their digital assets. Due to the arrangement involving FTX, users were meant to receive a credit to their accounts in addition to having certain cryptocurrencies that FTX supports held in custody. A few weeks later, however, FTX’s multibillion-dollar balance sheet hole was revealed, driving the business into bankruptcy. Voyager was left in limbo, along with many other acquisition candidates considered by FTX.