Binance.US ditched its $1.3 billion plan to purchase the assets of bankrupt crypto firm Voyager Digital, a Tuesday court filing shows.
The reversal was confirmed by a Binance.US spokesperson, who told Reuters that the “hostile and uncertain regulatory climate in the United States has introduced an unpredictable operating environment impacting the entire American business community.”
“We are focused on creating a safe platform where our customers can participate in the digital asset economy," the spokesperson said.
Spokespeople for Binance.US and Voyager didn’t return Banking Dive’s request for comment.
Plans for the abandoned deal were originally hatched in December, five months after Voyager filed for bankruptcy. Binance.US was the second company to win the bid to buy Voyager’s assets – FTX was to buy the assets for $1.42 billion as of September, but those plans were foiled by FTX’s own bankruptcy in November.
Voyager and FTX were two of several crypto firms that went belly-up in 2022 during the ongoing crypto winter, which picked up speed last spring with the collapse of the Terra/Luna ecosystem.
A separate court filing from Voyager Tuesday said the company reserves all rights with respect to the reverse-termination fee owed by Binance.US under the asset purchase agreement, as well as a $10 million good-faith deposit paid by Binance.US to Voyager.
Voyager tweeted Tuesday that although Binance.US leaving the table was disappointing, Voyager’s Chapter 11 plan allows for direct distribution of assets to customers via the Voyager platform.
“Consistent with the plan, we will now move swiftly to return value to customers via direct distributions,” the company tweeted. “We will provide more information on next steps and any actions customers need to take in the coming days.”
