It’s been a long year for Voyager Digital. After filing for bankruptcy, the crypto lender thought it would be able to return some funds to its customers by selling its assets to FTX. As you know, things haven’t been going well at FTX either. That’s why Binance.US is stepping in today and offering to buy Voyager Digital’s assets for $1.022 billion.
It all started with the default of Three Arrows Capital earlier this year. It had some large repercussions across the crypto ecosystem. In particular, Voyager Digital realized that Three Arrows Capital owed it more $650 million. It had no choice but to file for Chapter 11 as a result.
“After a review of strategic options focused on maximizing value returned to customers on an expedited timeframe, Binance.US has been selected as the highest and best bidder for our assets,” Voyager Digital said on Twitter today.
With today’s bid, Binance.US agreed to buy Voyager’s crypto portfolio for $1.002 billion. It is also spending another $20 million for other assets of “incremental value”.
Binance.US wants to return crypto to Voyager Digital’s customers. They will be able to connect to Binance.US and see some crypto assets based on their previous positions on Voyager Digital.
“Upon close of the deal, users will be able to seamlessly access their digital assets on the Binance.US platform where they will continue to receive future disbursements from the Voyager estate,” Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder said in a statement.
Of course, users will also be able to liquidate their positions and get cash. But Binance.US will likely gain new users with this deal. Some of them may start using Binance.US as their crypto exchange. Others will just sign up to withdraw their Voyager Digital funds.
Last month, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, said that its U.S. arm would make a new bid for Voyager Digital’s assets. “Binance.US will make another bid for Voyager now, given FTX is no longer able to follow through on that commitment,” he said.
The deal hasn’t closed just yet. Due to the Chapter 11 process, there will be a court hearing on January 5, 2023. The Bankruptcy Court will decide if it approves the deal.