Breaking: Binance Terminates $1 Bn Voyager Acquisition Deal, Now What’s Next?

According to a statement released by the insolvent cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital, the U.S. arm of Binance has canceled its agreement to purchase Voyager’s assets. According to the reorganization plan that was accepted by the court, Voyager Digital will instead provide clients the ability to choose between receiving cash or cryptocurrency in the form of a “toggle option” on the Voyager platform.

Binance Ends $1B Voyager Deal

A U.S. bankruptcy judge gave the go-ahead for the sale to Binance.US just one month ago and according to the previous plan, customers’ funds would have been recovered to the extent of 73%. However, this amount could have been reduced to 48% in the event that claims from the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its subsidiary Alameda Research were successful. There was a resounding 97% yes vote among the 6% of creditors who voted on the proposed Voyager plan.

1/ Today we received a letter from https://t.co/yG7Airmib5 terminating the asset purchase agreement. While this development is disappointing, our chapter 11 plan allows for direct distribution of cash and crypto to customers (a “toggle option”) via the Voyager platform.

— Voyager (@investvoyager) April 25, 2023

The scheme, which would have allowed Voyager customers to switch over to Binance.US, was met with intense governmental investigation, leading the Securities and Exchange Commission to assert that Binance.US was operating an unregistered securities exchange in the United States. This may be one plausible reason why the US-based crypto exchange notified Voyager of its termination earlier today.

Voyager’s Next Steps

In a tweet, the committee of unsecured creditors expressed extreme displeasure with the decision and indicated that it was looking into the possibility of bringing legal action against Binance exchange. In the meantime, the Committee and Voyager are focused on quickly utilizing the “toggle option that is outlined in the plan to move forward immediately with a self-liquidation”.

1/ Around 2 hours ago, https://t.co/5sjac1H4CW purported to terminate the asset purchase agreement with Voyager. The Committee is incredibly disappointed with this decision and is investigating potential claims against https://t.co/5sjac1H4CW.

— Voyager Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (@VoyagerUCC) April 25, 2023

In light of this news, the exchange’s native cryptocurrency BNB, witnessed a drop of roughly 0.22% in the past one hour. As things currently stand, the price of BNB is exchanging hands at $329.46 and boasts a market cap of roughly $52 billion.