Share this article
U.S. Justice Dept. Appeals New York Judge’s Decision to Approve Voyager’s Sale to Binance.US
The appeal comes just one day after Judge Michael Wiles gave Voyager Digital the go-ahead to sell its assets to Binance.US.
Updated Mar 10, 2023, 7:21 p.m. Published Mar 10, 2023, 5:41 a.m.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an appeal late Thursday evening challenging a bankruptcy court judge’s decision to allow Binance.US’ billion-dollar plan to acquire the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital.
The appeal, which was filed by the U.S. Trustee’s Office – an arm of the DOJ responsible for overseeing bankruptcies – comes just one day after Judge Michael Wiles of the Southern District Court in New York approved the deal after a contentious, four-day-long marathon hearing.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and various state regulators, have been staunchly opposed to the proposed deal. Last month, the SEC filed an objection to the purchase of Voyager, arguing that Binance.US may be violating federal securities laws by operating an unregistered securities exchange in the U.S.
However, Judge Wiles appeared to be unmoved by the SEC’s concerns, telling the lawyers present at the hearing that the federal Bankruptcy Code “doesn’t contemplate an endless period of time.”
“Things have to be done. We have creditors who are waiting and who in the midst of all of this uncertainty have no access to property in which they’ve invested, in some cases, their life savings, so we have to take some kind of action,” Wiles said. “We have to do something.”
Under the proposed sale to Binance.US, Voyager’s customers would see an estimated 73% recovery. The plan, which was assembled after the crypto exchange FTX – Voyager’s previous top bidder – filed for bankruptcy protection in November, was supported by 97% of Voyager’s creditors.
Read more: Voyager Bankruptcy Judge Expresses Skepticism Over U.S. SEC Objection to Binance.US Deal
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 is for the bankrupt lender to liquidate itself, which would likely result in much smaller returns for creditors.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
CFTC's acting chief Pham poised to go to crypto firm MoonPay once Mike Selig lands
The leader of the derivatives regulator is planning to join the crypto industry as the CFTC and other federal regulators work on policies to benefit the sector.
What to know:
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairman Caroline Pham confirmed again that she's heading to crypto firm MoonPay when the Senate confirms her replacement and he's sworn in.
- President Donald Trump's CFTC chair nominee Mike Selig was set for a Senate vote Wednesday evening, according to that chamber's schedule.
- Selig, currently an SEC official, would arrive at the CFTC just as several of Pham's crypto initiatives have gone live.
Top Stories
