Beleaguered crypto lender Voyager Digital justified its $1 billion proposal to sell assets to Binance.US after facing opposition from Alameda Research, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DoJ), and state-level regulators.
As per a filing, Voyager states the objections by these entities ignore the practical realities of these chapter 11 cases and fail to identify any transaction that provides a better outcome for Voyager’s creditors.
The speedy negotiation and execution of the Binance.US transaction by Voyager following the disastrous failure of FTX US is a reflection of the extensive negotiations they undertook earlier in their marketing strategy, the filing notes.
The Binance.US deal reportedly provides the most tax-efficient path forward for Voyager as Binance.US will enable users to access 100% of the crypto on Voyager’s platform.
This is the only transaction available to Voyager that did not contemplate the liquidation of crypto for working capital purposes. The Binance.US transaction will enable Voyager to expeditiously conclude these chapter 11 cases and distribute value to creditors.
The SEC, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont each allege that the Binance.US deal contains insufficient information about Binance.US’s financial position, the feasibility of the Binance.US transaction, or the ability of Binance.US to consummate the Binance.US transaction.
Voyager stated it is not seeking approval for the transaction at this time and that these objections are premature. Voyager investigated Binance.US financials that indicate that it has enough cash on hand to make these payments to the debtors.
Vermont, New Jersey, and the U.S. Trustee each object to approval of the Binance.US deal due to concerns about Binance.US’s security protocols, but Binance.US has various security protocols in place to ensure the safe storage of customer assets.
“New Jersey, Texas, Vermont, the U.S. Trustee, and the SEC each question Binance.US’s ability to consummate the Binance.US Transaction. Such concerns are misplaced, and are veiled attempts to override the Debtors’ business judgment based on speculation as opposed to the facts,” a filing noted.
A few days back, SEC filed a limited objection to Binance.US’s proposed takeover of Voyager Digital assets, stating a lack of “necessary information” for the deal. SEC cited a dearth of information regarding Binance.US’s capacity to pay for the purchase, what the operations would look like following the deal, etc.
