Binance.US is set to buy bankrupt rival cryptocurrency exchange Voyager Digital’s assets for $1.022 billion, Voyager announced Monday.
The bid is equal to the fair market value of Voyager’s crypto portfolio, plus $20 million in incremental value, Voyager said.
It’s nearly $400 million less than the $1.42 billion FTX US bid in September. That deal fell through, however, because of FTX’s own bankruptcy Nov. 11.
“The Binance.US bid aims to return crypto to customers in kind, in accordance with court-approved disbursements and platform capabilities,” Voyager said in a press release.
Binance.US will make a good faith deposit of $10 million and plans to reimburse Voyager for certain expenses up to $15 million.
The firms will also seek bankruptcy court approval on January 5, 2023, and should the deal not close by April 18, 2023 subject to a one-month extension, the acquisition agreement “allows Voyager to immediately move to return value to customers,” the announcement said.
Voyager declared bankruptcy in July amid market turmoil and following the bankruptcy of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, which defaulted on a $650 million loan from Voyager.
Following FTX’s bankruptcy, which was filed after a whirlwind week that included a quickly abandoned acquisition attempt by Binance, Voyager announced that it once again planned to auction off its assets.
At the time, Voyager emphasized that it didn’t transfer any assets to FTX US in connection with the transaction between the companies, and that it “successfully recalled loans from [FTX sister company] Alameda Research for 6,500 [Bitcoin] and 50,000 [Ethereum].”
Binance.US’s acquisition of Voyager comes about a month after Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao told Bloomberg that the his company’s U.S. subsidiary would put its hat in the ring to acquire Voyager, as it had during the initial bidding process in September.
“Our bid is a reflection of our guiding principle that customers should come first. Our goal is simple: return users their cryptocurrencies on the fastest timeline possible,” said Binance.US President and CEO Brian Shroder in a Monday blog post.
“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. 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,” Shroder said.
