Broker-dealer INX has joined Binance in submitting a non-binding letter of intent to buy distressed assets from bankrupt asset manager Voyager Digital.
“We believe that INX can offer the right combination of credibility, technology, and unique regulatory positioning to protect Voyager customers and creditor interests—giving them the stability they are looking for,” INX CEO Shy Datika said in a press release.
The statement noted that INX is a FINRA- and SEC-regulated broker-dealer and operates as a crypto trading platform with money transmitter licenses in 43 states in the U.S., but did not mention how much INX had bid to acquire Voyager’s distressed assets.
Wave Financial and CrossTower have also expressed interest, according to a Financial News report citing people familiar with the matter.
"Voyager has a good technology stack, impressive user base and strong devoted community. We will invite them all to join the INX fast-growing community and will rebuild trust with them," INX Deputy CEO Itai Avneri told Decrypt in an email.
He added that the company has been undergoing a due diligence process ahead of submitting a binding offer to acquire Voyager's assets.
Voyager bankruptcy
Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy in July, with more than 100,000 creditors to whom it owes between $1 and $10 billion. In June, the crypto asset manager revealed that it had a $661 million exposure to now-defunct hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, which itself filed for bankruptcy on July 2.
FTX.US, the U.S.-based arm of FTX, placed the original winning $1.4 billion bid for Voyager's assets in September. But the deal’s been called off since the crypto exchange (and more than 130 other entities) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 11.
“We are shocked, disgruntled, dismayed,” Joshua Sussberg, Voyager's lead attorney in the bankruptcy proceedings, said during a court hearing in November. “There will be no transaction with FTX, I think that is quite obvious.”
Before FTX was chosen as the winning bid, it was in a tight race with Binance.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has said that he believes FTX contributed to rumors that there would be national security concerns if his company won the auction for Voyager’s assets. But now, the crypto exchange—the world’s largest by volume, having done $14.6 billion in the last day—is back at the table.
“Binance will make another bid for Voyager now, given that FTX is no longer able to follow through on their commitment,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao told Bloomberg last week. “So we’ll see how that plays out.”
The original bidding process itself was, at times, fraught.
In July, Voyager initially turned down what it called a “low-ball bid dressed up as a white knight” from FTX. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried submitted it by way of a public press release, which the company said was an attempt to circumvent the private bidding process.
Editor's note: Decrypt journalist Jason Nelson also contributed reporting to this article.