When the financial woes of FTX also lead to the exchange’s bankruptcy, the deal could not proceed, pitching Binance.US as the next major favorite to bail out the company.
Judge Michael Wiles, the presiding Judge over the Binance.US and Voyager Digital acquisition case with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reaffirmed his order for the deal to proceed.
The Judge canceled the petition from the SEC to halt the proposed sale of the bankrupt crypto brokerage company to Binance.US on the grounds that such deals will be “immunizing fraud, theft or tax avoidance.” Sitting at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 15, Judge Miles said in his verdict that any delay to the sale of the firm will further harm the customers of the firm who are patiently waiting to recoup their funds.
Voyager Digital went bankrupt last year after unveiling deep exposures to Three Arrows Capital (3AC), one of the biggest hedge funds in the industry at the time. The fall of Voyager Digital represented one of the bankruptcies at the time that marked the onset of the long protracted crypto winter.
One of the moves by the company was to pray to the court to permit the sale of its assets in order to free up funds to repay its creditors. Judge Miles approved the request and the bidding process that was initially conducted saw the now-bankrupt FTX Derivatives Exchange win the proposal to acquire the firm.
When the financial woes of FTX also lead to the exchange’s bankruptcy, the deal could not proceed, pitching Binance.US as the next major favorite to bail out the company. The objection of the SEC had been in antagonism to the customers the regulator vowed to protect. The restructuring plans to sell the assets of the firm had been favored by 97% of the more than 61,000 customers being owed by Voyager Digital.
Will Binance.US Proceed with the Voyager Acquisition?
Judge Miles has empowered Binance.US to go ahead with the proposed acquisition, however, the question now remains, will the trading platform want to defy further victimization from the regulator?
Binance has always been on the radar of US regulators for tax evasion and related cases in what looks like a spillover from the distrust they have for the firm’s parent company. The decision to clear the buyout of Voyager by the Judge will also prevent the regulator from going after any of the parties involved in the transaction.
Whether or not Binance.US will be committing to its part of the agreement remains unknown at this time, however, the deal, if it pulls through, will be favorable for the Voyager Digital customers. Under the sale arrangement, these creditors will be entitled to get back as much as 73% of the value of their funds, a proposition that seems to be more favorable than what they would have received with FTX.
next