By Alicia Maher
Binance US crypto exchange is reportedly planning to relaunch its plan to buy the defunct Voyage Digital Service. A source familiar with the story was quoted by the media on Thursday. It is said to still be an internal discussion within Binance at this point.
Moving From FTX
The latest development has come up about a week after FTX filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. FTX signed an acquisition agreement with Voyager Digital’s management in September. FTX was going to acquire all its assets but the former has now suffered a liquidity crunch.
Voyager Digital said it terminated its former discussions with FTX this week. The company is now in active negotiations with a number of alternative bidders for its assets, it said. The crypto lending platform, Voyager Digital, filed for bankruptcy in the middle of July this year. Its crisis came a few months after the collapse of the LUNA and TerraUSD tokens.
It was a chain of events that cascaded and sent shockwaves throughout the crypto asset sector. The Terra-Luna collapse directly affected the hedge fund firm, Three Arrows Capital because of its exposure to them. On Three Arrows Capital’s collapse, it dragged Voyager Digital along with it because of their exposure to one another.
Subsequently, FTX bade to scoop up all of Voyager’s assets in a deal worth $1.42 billion via a September auction. According to Wall Street Journal, Binance was an equally major bidder for the assets at the same auction.
Exciting News
As of press time, Binance was yet to officially respond to inquiries about the renewed bidding interest. Voyager has also not released an official statement. The crypto market is still reeling from the effects of FTX’s collapse. It is currently in the middle of a chapter 11 bankruptcy file.
And also under the scrutiny of all concerned US regulators and investigators. On Wednesday, Genesis, another big player in the crypto space suspended redemptions in its crypto lending business. On the same day, news also filtered in that BlockFi seemed to be getting ready to file for bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, Voyager’s native token, VGX, gained on Thursday on news that Binance might be re-opening its takeover bid. The VGX token rose by more than 55% to hit $0.45. CoinDesk said it is the highest the asset has seen since October. Nevertheless, the asset is still down by 85% from its all-time high.