Amid all the back and forth over the past week, Binance.US has finally received approval to acquire the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital. On Tuesday, March 7, Michael Wiles, a bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of New York, dismissed all objections while ruling in favor of the sale.
Under the direction of the US court, Voyager will sell a total of $1 billion in assets to Binance. After Voyager went bankrupt last year, Binance was eager to acquire the platform’s assets. However, Binance.US had a hard time with US regulators, especially the SEC.
Reports circulated last week that Binance was planning to drop the deal due to regulatory pressures. Crypto exchanges like Binance are facing the heat of growing regulatory scrutiny in the US. Binance chief Changpeng Zhao also confirmed the win tweet: “Protect users. Construction and construction. FUD is temporary.”
Protect users. Construction and construction.
FUD is temporary. pic.twitter.com/B36KVIH2Tm
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) March 8, 2023
Voyager reimburses users
As part of the deal with Binance.US. Voyager Digital plans to refund users who lost their funds when the cryptocurrency lender went bankrupt. While Binance.US has obtained the confirmation order from the court, it still has a number of regulatory hurdles to overcome.
Earlier, the SEC said Voyager’s shipping of its assets could violate U.S. securities laws. In the court ruling yesterday, Judge Michael Wiles stated:
“I can’t freeze the whole thing indefinitely while regulators sort out if they think there are any issues with the transaction and the plan.”
The judge further expressed displeasure with the SEC’s decision to halt the sale. The U.S. Department of Justice will review Judge Michael Wiles’ decision before it takes effect.
The US SEC has also stated that Voyager’s proposed sale of VGX tokens may take securities laws into consideration. On this, Judge Wiles said, “If the government wants to litigate that,” it should have. Since the regulators chose not to do it, Wiles has “no choice” but to decide that the transactions were all legal.
Yesterday’s hearings also questioned Voyager’s financial advisors on how they plan to deal with customers in states such as Texas, New York, Vermont and Hawaii, where Binance.US does not have regulatory approval to operate.
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