SEC and Texas Object to Binance.US Acquisition of Voyager Assets

Binance.US is facing regulatory hurdles amid its bid to acquire Voyager Digital’s assets.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a limited objection to the move, and the Texas State Securities Board and the Texas Department of Banking have filed an objection, CoinDesk reported Wednesday (Jan. 4).

In its filing, the SEC seeks more details on how Binance.US can consummate this size of a transaction, how it intends to keep customer assets secure and how it would rebalance its portfolio of cryptocurrency.

Separately, the Texas agencies objected to the sale because they said Binance.US and Voyager are not in compliance with the state’s law, are not authorized to conduct business in the state and treat creditors in different states differently, the report said.

Voyager, a bankrupt crypto lender, plans to ask a bankruptcy court for permission to sell its assets during a hearing that’s set for Thursday (Jan. 5).

The company announced Dec. 19 that Binance.US would acquire the assets of Voyager Digital for $1.022 billion.

The bid includes the fair market value of Voyager’s crypto portfolio at a future date that has yet to be determined — which was estimated to be $1.002 billion — and additional consideration equal to $20 million of incremental value, Voyager said at the time.

Voyager’s selection of the Binance.US bid came after a review of strategic options that determined it to be the highest and best bid for its assets, the firm said.

When announcing Voyager’s selection of the bid, Binance.US CEO and President Brian Shroder said: “We hope our selection brings to an end a painful bankruptcy process which saw customers unfairly dragged into it at no fault of their own.”

On the same day, it was reported that Binance.US has “hundreds of millions of dollars” in current assets from its April funding round and plans to continue its mergers and acquisitions activity.

Voyager filed for bankruptcy protection on July 5, telling the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York that it was “facing a short-term ‘run on the bank’” after a borrower defaulted on a $650 million loan.

At the time it filed for bankruptcy, Voyager had 3.5 million active customers.

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