US Probes Binance Deal For Voyager Digital

Binance’s $1 billion acquisition of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital could be delayed or blocked by a US national security review, according to a Friday bankruptcy court filing.

The crypto exchange’s US-based affiliate Binance.US intends to buy Voyager’s crypto lending platform with a bid that includes $20 million in cash and crypto assets that will be used to repay Voyager’s customers.

But the US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency body that vets foreign investments into U.S. companies for national security risks, said Friday that its review “could affect the ability of the parties to complete the transactions, the timing of completion, or relevant terms.”

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

CFIUS has increasingly been used by Washington as a tool to stymie Chinese investment in the United States.

Binance is owned by Chinese-born and Singapore-based Changpeng Zhao and has no permanent headquarters. The company has been the subject of a money laundering probe by US prosecutors. Binance.US, based in Palo Alto, California, has said that its separate American exchange is “fully independent” of the main Binance platform.