Feb 23 (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and New York’s top financial regulator have opposed Binance.US’ $1 billion deal to buy defunct crypto lender Voyager, court filings show latest in a series of regulatory actions against crypto firms.
The proposed deal could violate laws governing the unregistered offering and sale of securities, the SEC said in a filing Wednesday. It also cited news reports of US investigations into the Binance global crypto exchange, of which Binance.US is an alleged independent partner, meaning the deal could become “impossible to complete.”
New York’s top financial regulator and New York Attorney General Letitia James also objected to the deal on Wednesday. The New York Treasury Department said that Voyager “illegally engaged in a virtual currency business within the state without a license.”
Binance.US and an attorney representing Voyager Digital did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The objections come as the SEC targets companies that offer a range of crypto services, from stablecoins to staking. It told Binance’s stablecoin issuer, Paxos Trust Company, that it should have registered the product as a security and is considering taking action, Paxos said last week.
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The US Department of Justice is investigating the global Binance exchange for possible money laundering and sanctions violations, Reuters reported in December. A senior Binance executive told The Wall Street Journal last week that Binance expects to pay fines to settle the investigation.
Voyager filed for bankruptcy in July, one of a series of crypto companies hit by the 2022 token price collapse.
Voyager received its first court approval for the deal last month. A US national security review could delay or block the deal, the US Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States said in a court filing in December.
Reporting by Yana Gaur in Bengaluru; Edited by Devika Syamnath and Bernadette Baum
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