Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao says the exchange aims for a ~$1B fund to buy distressed assets and plans to make another bid for bankrupt lender Voyager Digital
Binance had already made an early offer for Voyager's assets, while Zhao was also reported to be seeking backing in Abu Dhabi for an industry recovery vehicle. The planned fund would give those efforts a dedicated acquisition mandate rather than treating Voyager as a one-off bid.
The subsequent coverage records Binance.US agreeing to a $1.022B Voyager asset acquisition subject to bankruptcy approval, making this announcement the bridge between exploratory fundraising and a concrete bankruptcy transaction.
First-order effects
Binance is positioning itself to buy distressed crypto assets at a time when Voyager's asset sale is still contested, increasing its leverage in the lender's bankruptcy process.
Voyager's estate gains a prospective bidder with a stated pool of capital, after Binance's earlier offer had not been accepted.
Second-order effects
Other Voyager bidders must contend with a Binance-backed bid that is supported by a broader distressed-asset strategy rather than a single-asset purchase.
A recovery fund gives Binance a vehicle to pursue additional distressed opportunities, concentrating more dealmaking capacity in an exchange already active in Voyager's sale process.
Third-order effects
If Binance executes the strategy across multiple assets, distressed crypto restructurings may increasingly be shaped by large exchanges with both customer platforms and acquisition capital.
The later Binance.US agreement suggests bankruptcy courts and bidders become key gatekeepers for how distressed crypto assets are consolidated.
The trend: Crypto-market stress is creating a consolidation channel in which well-capitalized exchanges pursue distressed platforms and assets through bankruptcy sales.
“Binance is not a Chinese company, we are not related to China at all.” CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao (@cz_binance), who is considering a bid for assets of bankrupt crypto firm Voyager, said on @BloombergTV his company is mistakenly believed to be Chinese “because I look Chinese” https…
New: Jump Crypto, Polygon Ventures, Aptos Labs, Animoca Brands, GSR, Kronos and Brooker Group have committed to participating with an initial aggregate commitment of around USD 50 million to Binance's Recovery Fund.
I wonder how many times I will have to repeat this one in the future (thanks to SBF's media/lobbying power)... Binance is not a Chinese company. https://twitter.com/...
So many questions. But notable that Binance is speaking of BUSD and USD interchangeably. Sounds like this will mostly be underwritten by crypto, not fiat. https://www.binance.com/...
Binance officially launched the Industry Recovery Initiative today. Initially, Binance will commit USD 1 billion with an intent to ramp up that amount to USD 2 billion in the near future if the need arises. https://www.binance.com/...
Bullish news for the industry. “The mandate of this new effort is to support the most promising and highest quality companies and projects...” “Aside from funding support, we plan to provide founders and projects with comprehensive https://www.binance.com/... https://twitter.com/…
BREAK: Binance is putting $1bn into its six-month crypto rescue fund, and could go up to $2bn. Jump, Aptos, Polygon, GSR, Animoca, Kronos and Brooker Group are contributing a *collective* $50m https://www.binance.com/...
I'm calling it right now, you will see #LUNC on this list! #Binance and other companies are pledging 1 BILLION up to 2 BILLION to projects that need financial support. $LUNC will be the greatest comeback story in #Crypto!💎🤲🏻 https://www.binance.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Binance wants a billion dollars, First thing he wants to do? Bailout a Ponzi scam. Why are Ponzi schemes so important to bailout? Sure buddy, keep telling us that you're not another SBF. https://twitter.com/...
People will keep repeating it until you actually confirm which country the holding company is based in. In March 2022 you said you were going to announce it “very soon” and still nothing I wonder whether we will actually see a full audit of reserves in a few weeks as also stated …
Kind of funny how this started as a “industry lender of last resort” for underwater cryoto platforms & within a week transformed into a mega billion fund https://twitter.com/...
Binance is aiming to get at least $1 billion into its crypto industry rescue fund, CZ tells Bloomberg. He also confirmed it will submit a bid for Voyager's assets after the FTX deal collapsed https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Interesting thing about the idea of “distressed crypto assets” how can you tell if they're distressed? If they have no underlying value and trade only based on supply and demand, they're not really “distressed”, they're just trading at market value. https://twitter.com/...