Binance US to Acquire Bankrupt Voyager's Assets for $1 Billion

Binance's American entity Binance.US has emerged as "the highest and best bid" for bankrupt Voyager's assets.

The total sum is roughly $1.022 billion, which includes the latter firm's crypto portfolio (valued at an estimated $1.002 billion) and "additional consideration equal to $20 million in incremental value," read the announcement.

Voyager was a crypto broker that offered high-interest rates and trading across more than 50 different cryptocurrencies.

Today's announcement has identified Binance.US as the winning bidder, but the deal won't be officially executed until the Bankruptcy Court approves Voyager's request to do so on January 5. In its bankruptcy filing, the firm identified over 100,000 creditors. With the Binance.US bid, creditors are now a step closer to seeing some of their money returned.

"We hope our selection brings to an end a painful bankruptcy process which saw customers unfairly dragged into it at no fault of their own," Binance.US president and CEO Brian Schroder tweeted. "Our goal is simple: return users their cryptocurrency on the fastest timeline possible."

He also said that once the deal is completed, "Voyager users will finally be able to access their digital assets on the Binance.US platform."

Voyager filed for bankruptcy in July, citing its exposure to Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and joining a long list of crypto firms that collapsed earlier this year. The catalyst for the wave of bankruptcies was the breakdown of the crypto project Terra and its algorithmic stablecoin UST in May. Alameda Research, the hedge fund of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, had extended a $500 million line of credit to Voyager in June. In July, when it emerged that the deal included Alameda taking a $75 million loan from Voyager, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao commented about it on Decrypt's gm podcast, "That was surprising even to me, to be honest... I would never do that type of deal. I would never say, 'I will invest in your company and then you loan me some money.' I would just not invest in that company, I'll keep my money."

Prior to its implosion last month, crypto exchange FTX had also reportedly been in the bidding race for Voyager's assets. In September, Voyager even issued a similar announcement that identified FTX.US's bid as "the highest and best bid for its assets."

The collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's empire changed those plans, however.

"There will be no transaction with FTX, I think that is quite obvious," said Joshua Sussberg, Voyager's bankruptcy lawyer.