Bankrupt crypto firm Voyager Digital Ltd. said on Monday it will sell its assets to Binance.US in a deal valued at about US$1-billion after a review.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Binance.US, which operates as an independent legal entity and has a licensing agreement with Binance.com, will make a US$10-million deposit and reimburse Voyager VYGVQ for certain expenses up to US$15-million.
Voyager, which went public in Canada in 2019, was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Amid an implosion for the company in July, it voluntarily delisted from the TSX and also halted its shares on over-the-counter markets in the United States.
Nearly US$2-trillion in value has been wiped out from the crypto sector this year on rising interest rates and exacerbating worries of an economic downturn. The slump has eliminated key industry players such as Three Arrows Capital and Celsius Network.
However, the bigger blow landed after larger crypto exchange FTX Trading Ltd. filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Its swift fall has also sparked tough regulatory scrutiny of how major exchanges hold user funds.
Voyager said on Monday it will seek bankruptcy court approval for the deal with Binance.US at a hearing on Jan. 5.
In a blog post, Binance.US said the bid “sets a clear path forward for Voyager customers’ funds to be unlocked as soon as possible, and returned to them in the form of the cryptocurrencies previously held in their Voyager accounts.”
Previously, Voyager assets were set to be purchased by FTX. But that deal crumbled when FTX itself went bankrupt and Sam Bankman-Fried stepped down as chief executive, after traders pulled billions from the FTX platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal.
The collapse has fanned fears about the future of the crypto industry after FTX outlined a “severe liquidity crisis.”
With a report from The Globe and Mail