The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and New York’s top financial regulator are opposing Binance.US’s $1 billion deal to acquire defunct crypto lender Voyager, citing possible violations of securities laws and unregistered offers and sales of securities.
The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) and New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James have also expressed their opposition to the deal in court filings on Wednesday. The DFS stated that Voyager had “illegally operated a virtual currency business within the state without a license.”
The SEC’s filing also cited news reports of investigations into the global Binance crypto exchange. Now, Binance.US is allegedly an independent partner of Binance. The deal could become “impossible to consummate.”
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment noted in a court filing in December that a U.S. national security review could delay or block the Binance.US — Voyager deal.
SEC Cracking Down on Crypto?
The SEC has been targeting various crypto companies, such as Paxos — the issuer of Binance’s stablecoin, BUSD. Not only that, the SEC has also cracked down on companies and exchanges offering “staking” services. The SEC may be ready to drop the hammer on Binance soon, but only time will tell.
The opposition to the Binance.US and Voyager deal isn’t the only action that hit Binance. The US Justice Department is also investigating Binance Holdings for potential money laundering and other violations. However, a Binance executive noted the crypto giant expects to resolve the investigations by paying penalties.
After the cryptocurrency market suffered a significant drop in market value, the Voyager was unable to redeem withdrawals. A majority of Voyager’s clients stored less than $10,000 and the data indicates a majority of them were individual investors. While the deal gave a glimmer of hope to the cryptocurrency industry, the SEC and DFS’ opposition may indicate regulatory clarity is coming soon.
