Binance and FTX to participate in Voyager Digital’s assets buyback auction

What’s new? Crypto exchanges Binance and FTX are interested in buying out the assets of the bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital. CoinDesk reports, citing insiders, that Coinbase also planned to participate in the purchase, but later backed out of this decision. Bids for the buyout must be submitted by September 6, on the same day an auction will be held as part of the broker’s bankruptcy case. If a winner cannot be found, a new round will be held on September 29.

Material by CoinDesk

More details about the situation. In early August, 22 companies underwent due diligence and declared their readiness to buy out Voyager’s assets, so the two major exchanges will have a lot of competition. According to one source, Binance is “pushing hard on buying into institutional.” In an interview with the New York Times, the exchange’s CEO Changpeng Zhao said that Voyager, Celsius, and another crypto lender, also in bankruptcy, approached his company to discuss selling assets.

Coinbase, along with Callaway Capital Management, which specializes in distressed assets, planned to buy out and restructure Voyager but abandoned this idea. According to one of the insiders, the crypto broker’s “financials don’t add up.”

FTX representatives declined to comment. Alameda, which is owned by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, previously offered to buy Voyager’s assets. However, the broker’s lawyers criticized the proposal, calling their own plan of reorganization more successful. In addition, they added, the proposal could harm customers because making it public would jeopardize other potential deals and disrupt the competitive and confidential trading process.

Following the news, the native token of Voyager (VGX) rose by 50,6% to $0,41 per day, according to CoinMarketCap as of 07:30 UTC on August 26.

In early August, the US court granted Voyager the approval to return $270 million in fiat deposits to customers. Judge Michael Wiles ruled that the company presented a “sufficient basis” to support that customers should be allowed access to the deposit account at Metropolitan Commercial Bank.