The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an appeal late Thursday night challenging a New York bankruptcy judge’s decision to allow Binance.US’s billion-dollar plan to acquire the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital.
The appeal, which was filed by the US Trustee’s Office – the part of the DOJ responsible for overseeing bankruptcies – comes just one day after Judge Michael Wiles approved the deal following a contentious four-day marathon hearing.
Regulators, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and various state regulators have strongly opposed the proposed deal. Last month, the SEC filed an objection to the acquisition of Voyager, arguing that Binance.US may be violating federal securities laws by operating an unregistered securities exchange in the United States
However, Judge Wiles appeared unfazed by the SEC’s concerns, telling the lawyers present at the hearing that the bankruptcy code “does not contemplate an infinite period.”
“Things have to be done. We have creditors who are waiting and who, in the midst of all this uncertainty, do not have access to property that they have invested in, in some cases, their life savings, so we have to take some kind of action, ” Wiles said. “We’ve got to do something.”
Under the proposed sale to Binance.US, Voyager’s customers would see an estimated 73% recovery. The plan, put together after FTX – Voyager’s former top bidder – filed for bankruptcy of its own in November, was backed by 97% of Voyager’s creditors.
If Voyager decides not to go through with the current plan to sell itself to Binance.US – or if regulators are successful in blocking the sale – another option for the bankrupt lender is to liquidate itself, which would likely result in a much smaller return for the creditors.