Voyager Digital says Binance.US terminated an agreement to acquire the bankrupt crypto broker for $1B, less than a week after the US abandoned stopping the deal
Voyager’s asset sale had already survived bankruptcy-court approval and regulatory objections, after Binance.US emerged as the winning bidder in a $1.022B proposed asset purchase. The agreement also followed Voyager’s earlier break with FTX, which had reopened the search for a buyer during bankruptcy.
The termination reverses a transaction that courts had allowed to proceed, including a March ruling permitting the sale despite SEC and state objections. It matters because the buyer’s withdrawal, rather than a judicial block, now leaves Voyager’s bankruptcy exit unresolved.
First-order effects
Binance.US is no longer bound to acquire Voyager’s assets under the roughly $1B agreement, despite the U.S. dropping its effort to stop the deal days earlier.
Voyager and its creditors lose the approved transaction path and must determine a new route for its assets and customer recovery through the bankruptcy process.
Second-order effects
A replacement sale process would put pressure on prospective buyers to assess both the assets and the regulatory friction that surrounded the Binance.US deal; Voyager had previously moved on after FTX ceased being its buyer.
The reversal weakens the practical value of court approval alone for distressed-crypto transactions: a deal can remain vulnerable if the buyer elects not to close.
Third-order effects
If similar exits persist, bankruptcy estates in crypto may favor deal structures with more buyer protections or backup bidders, because regulatory clearance and court approval do not guarantee completion.
The episode points to a more cautious market for consolidating failed crypto businesses, where regulatory exposure can shape bidder appetite even when a sale is legally permitted.
The trend: This is one data point in the post-failure restructuring of crypto firms, where completing an asset transfer can be harder than winning approval for it.
1/ Today we received a letter from https://binance.us/ terminating the asset purchase agreement. While this development is disappointing, our chapter 11 plan allows for direct distribution of cash and crypto to customers (a “toggle option") via the Voyager platform.
https://binance.us/ has made the difficult decision to exercise its right to terminate the asset purchase agreement with Voyager. While our hope throughout this process was to help Voyager's customers access their crypto in kind, the hostile and uncertain regulatory climate... ht…
4/ Under the terms of the asset purchase agreement, https://binance.us/ is required to destroy all customer information that it has received and permanently close and remove any accounts established with Voyager customer information.
2/ Consistent with the plan, we will now move swiftly to return value to customers via direct distributions. We will provide more information on next steps and any actions customers need to take in the coming days.
Voyager suckers spared having all of their assets and personal information transferred to known criminals knowingly laundering money for terrorist organizations. https://www.reuters.com/...
Looks like voyager customers (that includes myself) are going to take a haircut but get (some) of their crypto back. Not sure if it's in cash or crypto but basically they're liquidating after all this time and paying lawyers and consultants and former staff. 🤢🤮. https://twitter.c…
Inb4 Binance pulling out of the Voyager deal is part of the conditions of an imminent settlement with the CFTC. CFTC commissioner today: There is not an immediate path forward. That doesn't mean there couldn't be one and hopefully there will be one. https://www.cnbc.com/... https…
👀 https://binance.us/ nukes Voyager bankruptcy deal, pointing to a “hostile and uncertain regulatory climate in the United States” as the reason. The court-approved deal had faced significant government scrutiny. https://twitter.com/...
Pour one out for Voyager creditors FTX gonna save us🙏 FTX implodes 💀 Binance gonna save us 🥳 US blocks sale 😳 Court allows sale to go through 😩🙏 Binance pulls out 🪦 https://twitter.com/...