Federal Judge Stops the $1.3 Billion Sale of Voyager Digital to BinanceUS

On Monday, March 27, a federal judge temporarily stored bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital from proceedings for its $1.3 billion stake sale to BinanceUS. This development comes on the same day when the CFTC sued Binance and its founder over violations of derivatives regulations.

Also, it comes within a month’s time of a court giving a nod for the two players to proceed with the deal. As per the latest development, the US regulators shall look further into the legality of the deal.

Earlier this month in March, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Office of the US Trustee, filed appeals over the court’s decision to approve the sale of Voyager Assets to BinanceUS.

They argued that the protections could rubberstamp cryptocurrencies that might be unregistered securities. Besides, it might also rubberstamp transactions that might be illegal under US securities laws.

On Monday, Jennifer Rearden, the US District Judge in Manhattan ordered putting the sale on hold while overruling Voyager’s argument that a delay might cause BinanceUS to back out of the deal entirely.

Voyager Digital’s Appeal to the Regulators

In July 2022, crypto lender Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy amid massive withdrawals post the $40 billion collapse of the Terra ecosystem. Voyager has been actively seeking a stake sale recently to help its customers get their money back.

During a court filing last week, Voyager said that the DOJ appeals should not hold the company and its customers “in limbo”. BinanceUS has agreed to pay a cash total of $20 million to Voyager and take over the cryptocurrencies deposited by Voyager’s customers. By February 2023, these assets were valued at $1.3 billion while accounting for the bulk of the deal’s valuation.

Binance recently finds itself surrounded by all regulatory actions. On Monday, it faced a major blow of engaging in a legal battle with the CFTC.