Binance US, a US-based affiliate of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange, is gearing up to renew its offer to purchase defunct cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital.
Before diving into this piece, you may want to catch up on some relevant stories, like how Sam Bankman-Fried has become Washington's go-to crypto guy or how Alameda Research utilized insider knowledge to acquire tokens on FTX.
After FTX filed for bankruptcy protection, Voyager revealed a few days ago that it had reopened the bidding process for the firm and was in active conversation with other bidders.
FTX US's September $1.42 billion offer to purchase Voyager Digital's assets was the biggest and ultimately the winning bid. At that time, the two leading bidders were Binance and FTX.
Binance's head of PR, Patrick Hillmann, has made it clear that the exchange isn't aiming to save the cryptocurrency world. There are no Darth Vaders or Luke Skywalkers in the corporate world. Because of its position as market leader, this firm is investigating potential areas of cooperation with which to mitigate the impact of a black swan occurrence.
At the time of FTX's bankruptcy filing, Voyager had a balance of around $3 million at FTX, most of which consisted of locked LUNA2 and locked SRM that it was unable to remove due to being locked and subject to vesting schedules.
The arrangement did not include the sale or transfer of any assets from Voyager to FTX US, the company said. As part of the auction procedure, FTX US did submit a $5 million "good faith" deposit, which is now being held in escrow.
Meanwhile, SBF's Alameda Research, which engages in cryptocurrency trading, has returned Voyager $200 million in the form of 6,553 BTC (about $128 million) and 51,204 ETH (approximately $70 million).
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