Binance's Acquisition of Voyager Digital at Risk of Delay or Obstruction by US National Security Review

Binance's planned $1 billion acquisition of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital may be delayed or blocked by a national security review in the United States, according to a bankruptcy court filing.

Binance.US, the US affiliate of the crypto exchange, had intended to purchase Voyager's crypto lending platform with a bid that included $20 million in cash and crypto assets to repay Voyager's customers.

However, the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency body that assesses foreign investments into American businesses for risks to national security, stated on Friday that its examination “could affect the ability of the parties to complete the transactions, the timing of completion, or relevant terms.”

Attorneys for Voyager and Binance.US did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

CFIUS did not mention any specific security concerns raised by the Voyager acquisition in its court filing, but it said that bankruptcy courts have sometimes ruled that national security concerns can prevent a company from bidding on assets in bankruptcy.

It is important to note that CFIUS has increasingly been used by Washington as a tool to stymie Chinese investment in the United States.

Also, Voyager filed for bankruptcy in July, months after the crash of major crypto tokens TerraUSD and Luna sent shockwaves across the digital asset industry.

Voyager initially planned to sell its assets to FTX Trading, but that deal imploded when FTX went bankrupt in November amid a frenzy of customer withdrawals and fraud allegations that led to the arrest of founder Sam Bankman-Fried.