Judge Gives Green Light For Binance US To Acquire Bankrupt Firm Voyager Digital

In December, the exchange had reached an agreement to acquire Voyager, following the collapse of Voyager’s earlier deal with Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.

The proposed sale of some of Voyager’s assets to Binance US, which was filed for bankruptcy, is moving forward after a judge gave his approval to the disclosure statements of the plan during a hearing. 

The Judge, Michael Wiles, also asked for revisions to the proposed order documents before finalizing the approval. The deal still needs to be approved by the majority of Voyager’s creditors and will be subject to another confirmation hearing in March before being approved. 

Voyager had initially agreed to sell itself to FTX, but reopened the bidding process after the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s exchange in November. Binance.US ultimately made the winning bid in December.

An attorney representing Voyager, Joshua Sussborg of Kirkland & Ellis, said during a hearing that moving forward with the asset sale to Binance US would be in the best interests of Voyager’s creditors. Sussborg argued that they do not want to delay getting money and crypto back into their customers’ hands, and that a self-liquidation auction would not be able to put the most money in customers’ pockets. 

The proposed deal faced opposition from the Securities and Exchange Commission, state regulators, the U.S. Trustee’s office, the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. and private parties. However, the judge said that the CFIUS’s concerns were not relevant for the current hearing. 

The Kirkland & Ellis partner Christine Okike, also spoke on behalf of Voyager, mentioned that the objections by the SEC and the state of New Jersey had been resolved for the purpose of the hearing and argued that Binance US has ample cash on hand to pay the debtors up to $35 million in cash, which is the maximum amount that may be due.