According to a CoinDesk report, Binance’s US arm will relaunch its bid for the bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital. Previously, FTX had won the bid to acquire the fallen crypto lender. However, with recent events that led to FTX itself going bankrupt, the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, seems to have emerged as the crypto lender’s savior.
Binance’s previous bid was halted after alleged national security risks. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) reviews prospective foreign acquisitions of companies with U.S. operations. The committee can veto any transaction it deems to be a national security risk.
On November 11th, Voyager announced that it would reopen its bidding process. The company said that it was “in active discussions with alternative bidders.” Apart from Binance, Wave Financial and Cross Tower are also reportedly in the race.
Voyager did not transfer any assets to FTX US as part of the previous bid. A $5 million “good faith” payment made by FTX US earlier as part of the auction procedure is being kept in escrow.
6,500 BTC and 50,000 ETH in loans from Alameda Research were successfully recalled by Voyager. Voyager has no open loans with any borrowers at the moment. Voyager had a balance of about $3 million at FTX at the time of FTX Group’s Chapter 11 filing, largely made up of locked LUNA2 and locked SRM that it was unable to withdraw since they are still locked and subject to vesting schedules.
Is the bid part of the Binance industry recovery fund?
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) recently announced that the exchange would launch a recovery fund for the entire crypto industry. This fund’s primary goal will be to support projects during a liquidity crisis. However, there is no confirmation if the Voyager bid is a part of the recovery fund.
Chief communications officer at the exchange, Patrick Hillmann, told CoinDesk,
“Binance is not looking to be the ‘white knight’ of crypto. There are no Luke Skywalkers or Darth Vaders in business. This is a company, with the most to lose as its market leader, looking around to see where we can help bolster the industry through a black swan event.”
Regardless, the exchange does seem to have come out on top in this whole episode. The damage that the FTX contagion has caused is yet to be fully recognized. More information will be available once a thorough investigation takes place.