Binance.US agreed to buy the assets of Voyager Digital, a defunct crypto lending firm, for $1.022B. The offer represents Voyager’s crypto portfolio. It currently has a market value of around $1.002B and is valued at an extra $20M due to incremental value. Binance.US, based in Palo Alto, California, will make a $10M deposit and pay Voyager up to $15M in expenses under a licensing agreement with Binance.com.
“The Binance.US bid aims to return crypto to customers in kind, in accordance with court-approved disbursements and platform capabilities,” says the Voyager statement. Binance.US will have to keep the customers and their assets on the platform after those funds are transferred and then dispersed to clients. This will not happen until the bankruptcy court determines how much each account will get.
At a hearing on January 5, Voyager will request approval from the bankruptcy court to execute the asset purchase agreement. A Chapter 11 plan will be used to sell the company, subject to a creditor vote. According to a person familiar with the transaction, money will not be transferred to Binance.US until March.
Voyager Voyaged a Long Way to Here
When Voyager sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July, Voyager Digital revealed that FTX had won an auction for its assets worth about $1.42B. In exchange for transferring $1.422B in crypto to FTX, a subsidiary of cryptocurrency exchange FTX would have transferred $51M to Voyager. The latter agreement has a similar structure.
Binance offered to buy the assets for a $50M fee during the first auction process over the summer. Voyager received a similar proposal from FTX, which considerably boosted its initial $15M offer.
The deal seems to be part of Binance.US’ cost-driven strategy to expand and accumulate users. Especially after recently preceding trading charges on bitcoin and ether, the two most popular cryptocurrencies.
As Binance won the bidding, VGX, Voyager Digital’s native token, surged by more than 32%. In the US, VGX’s price is around 38 cents. Binance’s BNB token climbed over 1% to $250 due to the news.
Over $2T in value has been knocked off the crypto sector this year. This happened due to increasing interest rates and growing worries about an economic downturn. Three Arrows Capital and Celsius Network are prominent industry players who have fled the market.
