U.S. state officials have raised objections to Binance.US’s deal to acquire user accounts from bankrupt New York-based crypto firm Voyager Digital Ltd., saying that the buyer’s opaque finances, foreign ownership and business practices put U.S. customers at risk, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Texas financial regulators pointed to a lack of clarity on the buyer’s ties to foreign affiliates and related parties, as well as the personal finances of Binance owner Changpeng Zhao, and said they can’t protect consumers who do business with foreign entities. A bankruptcy court will consider the state officials’ views in weighing a proposed deal for Binance.US to buy Voyager’s customer accounts out of chapter 11. Binance.US stepped in as the winning bidder for Voyager’s accounts after an earlier agreement to migrate them to FTX fell through. Since the collapse of FTX, Binance’s own finances have drawn increasing scrutiny, yet the exchange has offered little in the way of transparency. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also objected to the deal, saying the parties haven’t provided enough information on Binance.US’s ability to complete a deal as large as the Voyager purchase or enough information on how they plan to protect customers’ assets against theft or loss. Separately, the U.S. government has said in court papers that a national-security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. could affect Voyager’s ability to complete a transaction, the timing of such a deal, or its terms.
