- Binance U.S. walks away from its $1 billion asset acquisition deal from Voyager
- The exchange claimed that the action was a result of the uncertain regulatory environment in the United States
Binance U.S. – the American arm of Binance – terminated its deal to acquire crypto lending platform – Voyager Digital’s assets. The announcement was made by Voyager today on its official Twitter handle.
Binance U.S. confirmed the same on its social media channel. The crypto exchange blamed “the hostile and uncertain regulatory climate” in the U.S. as the reason. In a Tweet, Binance said,
“While our hope throughout this process was to help Voyager’s customers access their crypto in kind, the hostile and uncertain regulatory climate in the United States has introduced an unpredictable operating environment impacting the entire American business community.”
Binance U.S. walks away from the crypto lender
With the deal terminated, the defunct crypto lender will now proceed to distribute cash and crypto to its customers. This move was part of its Chapter 11 proceedings. The company further said,
“Consistent with the plan, we will now move swiftly to return value to customers via direct distributions. We will provide more information on next steps and any actions customers need to take in the coming days.”
Notably, Binance U.S. and Voyager’s deal was worth a whopping $1.022 billion. It was initially in the hands of FTX U.S. but the deal fell through after the collapse of the exchange. Moreover, Binance U.S. had to make a deposit of $10 million in good faith and take up Voyager’s expenses extending up to $15 million.
Additionally, soon after Binance U.S. signed the deal to acquire the crypto lending firm’s assets, it was met with roadblocks from multiple authorities. This included the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), and the Department of Justice (DoJ).
Despite the multiple hurdles, the defunct crypto lender had received a green light from the U.S. government to move ahead with the deal. Moreover, the approval came on 20 April, while the deal had a completion deadline of 18 April 2023. This, however, came crashing down with Binance US backing out of the deal altogether.
In its termination letter, the crypto exchange said,
“As of the Outside Date (i.e., April 18, 2023), the Closing has not occurred. Accordingly, pursuant to Section 8.1(c) of the Purchase Agreement, Purchaser hereby terminates the Purchase Agreement effective immediately and without any further liability of or obligation binding on Purchaser, its Affiliates (…)”
The Voyager Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors also released a statement on Binance U.S.’ last minute drop out. The Committee expressed that it was “incredibly disappointed” with the deal termination. Nonetheless, it will investigate “potential claims” against the crypto exchange.
Reports on Binance U.S. and China links resurface
Subsequently, a report by Bloomberg makes fresh claims about the crypto exchange’s association with developers based in China. The report claimed that the exchange employs over 100 workers in Shanghai for its engineering and products department. Additionally, the firm has reportedly been trying to move these employees to North America for about a year.
Regarding this, a spokesperson stated that the exchange has a global workforce of over 500 employees and contractors. Additionally, the company representative stated that the exchange stores all of its customer data on the Amazon Web Services platform, located in Virginia.
