Voyager Digital has made several multi-million dollar transactions over the past couple of weeks. The bankrupt crypto lender has transferred more than $86 million worth of crypto assets to United Stated based crypto exchange Coinbase since February 14.
According to data compiled by on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain, the assets transferred to Coinbase include 2.24 trillion Shiba Inu (SHIB) worth $28 million, 15,635 ETH worth $25 million, 7.75 million OCEAN worth $3 million, 640,000 Chainlink Tokens (LINK) worth $4.4 million and 28.5 million of its own native token VGX, among several other crypto assets.
The fall of Voyager Digital, once a titan in the cryptocurrency industry, has been a long and painful one. It began last July when the company was forced to suspend customer withdrawals and deposits, citing the failure of Three Arrows Capital, another crypto firm, to repay a loan worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This move spelled the beginning of the end for Voyager as it struggled to stay afloat amid mounting legal and regulatory issues.
In Sept. 2022, the now defunct exchange, FTX, agreed to buy Voyager’s assets, a deal that ultimately fell through after a Texas regulator objected to FTX’s purchase. Finally, in a last ditch attempt to stave off total collapse and calamity for retail investors who held money on the site, Voyager was forced to file for bankruptcy, but it made a deal with Binance who agreed to purchase Voyager’s remaining assets at a discount, bringing an ignoble end to a once-promising enterprise.
As part of the deal, Binance is set to pay a handsome $20 million in cash to Voyager, in addition to taking over the company’s customer base. The customers, who have been left in limbo since July without the ability to withdraw their funds, will finally be able to do so by transferring to Binance.US’s crypto exchange, assuming the deal passes a U.S. national security review of the deal, which a judge in Jan. ordered to be expedited.
The SEC claims that Binance.US has not shown whether it can complete the transaction in compliance with federal securities law. The regulator doubts Voyager’s ability to complete its planned asset restructuring through Binance’s acquisition. There are also concerns about whether Voyager can repay some of its debtors’ assets after its bankruptcy.
Besides the SEC, another regulator that opposes the deal is the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The commission said it was investigating Voyager’s actions that constituted deceptive and unfair marketing of cryptocurrency. However, despite the opposition, Binance.US said the deal would progress. The exchange added that customers should expect an email about the next steps.
