Share this article
$1B Voyager-Binance Deal Benefits Halved if Alameda Loan Claim Succeeds: Texas Regulators
In a court filing, the regulators cast doubt on Binance.US' relationship with Binance.com and alleged its staking service is illegal.
Updated Mar 2, 2023, 2:44 p.m. Published Feb 27, 2023, 10:36 a.m.
Make us preferred on Google
The benefits to creditors from an offer from Binance.US to buy bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital hinge on a $445 million loan claim by Alameda Research, making the deal potentially not worth bothering with, Texas regulators said in a Friday court filing.
The filing by the Texas banking and securities agencies said that Voyager’s creditors might be better off if the company simply liquidated assets and warned that would-be buyer Binance.US may be illegally offering securities through its staking program.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
“If Alameda is successful in proving its administrative expense claim … recovery could be decreased from 51% to 24%-26% – an amount much lower than what the general unsecured claimants are estimated to receive in a Chapter 7 liquidation,” said the court filing, which was also backed by securities regulators from New Jersey.
Voyager lawyers have said the Binance.US deal has significant creditor support, but the Texas filing says they weren’t sufficiently warned about the risks of Alameda, the trading arm of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, successfully clawing back loan repayments made before its own bankruptcy.
The Binance.US deal, which is worth $1.02 billion, should also be quashed because customers weren’t warned personal data could be transferred to underregulated overseas jurisdictions, the filing also said.
Binance concerns
The document, which was filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, also detailed concerns over Binance’s business model.
"Binance.US’ staking program differs from traditional crypto staking and appears to constitute an illegal securities offering,” Joe Rotunda, director of enforcement at the Texas State Securities Board, said in a statement.
His comments follow enforcement action against crypto exchange Kraken, which had to pay a multimillion-dollar fine to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month and agree to end staking-as-a-service in the country.
“While Binance.US has affirmatively represented to its customers that it was working on getting licensed in Texas, Binance.US has never applied for a license with the SSB (State Securities Board) and, after a year, abandoned its license application with the DOB (Department of Banking) after failing to submit sufficient financial information,” the court filing said.
The terms of use Voyager customers must sign “may even effectively permit Binance.com to act in the U.S. even though Binance.com purportedly does not deal with U.S. customers,” the regulators added.
The deal for Voyager has also been opposed by the SEC and Federal Trade Commission, which said it was probing allegations of deceptive marketing by Voyager before it filed for bankruptcy in July. A hearing on that issue is scheduled for Thursday.
Binance.US didn't immediately return a call for comment.
Read more: Voyager to Hold Onto $445M of Alameda Loan Repayments Pending Court Order or Settlement
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
DeFi, ethics disputes remain in Senate crypto bill ahead of Jan. 15 vote
The Senate is approaching a potential markup that may advance crypto legislation to a vote, and industry insiders are amassing for a lobbying push this week.
What to know:
- The U.S. Senate is potentially as close as it's ever been to a crypto market structure law, as the Senate Banking Committee's chairman said the panel will be ready to mark up the latest draft next week.
- It's still unclear how much Democrats might push back against this timeline, considering most of the big-ticket disputes remain to be resolved between the parties.
- A negotiation document that emerged after a meeting among senators on Tuesday demonstrates that many of the Democrats' requests have potentially been satisfied, but key concerns over the ethics of senior government officials, the treatment of DeFi and the question of stablecoins offering yield still await answers.
- Crypto insiders will visit Senate offices this week to cheer on the negotiations.
Top Stories
