The defunct cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital announced on Monday that Binance.US has agreed to purchase its assets for $1.022 billion.
- The bid represents $20 million in new value in addition to the fair market value of Voyager's cryptocurrency portfolio, which is now valued at roughly $1.002 billion.
- The Binance.US offer "aims to return crypto to clients in kind, in compliance with court-approved payments and platform capabilities," according to Voyager's statement.
- Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the CEO of Binance, has previously stated that the exchange's American division would submit a new offer for Voyager Digital. It was reported earlier that Binance was considering a bid for the assets of the insolvent crypto lender.
- Binance.US will provide a $10 million good faith deposit and up to $15 million in reimbursement for certain costs incurred by Voyager. At a hearing on January 5, 2023, Voyager will also ask the bankruptcy court for permission.
- The now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX purchased the assets from Voyager, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. FTX outbid rivals Wave Financial and Binance for the assets.
Coin Roundup
The most valuable cryptocurrency by market value, Bitcoin (BTC), has dropped 0.8% in the last day and is currently trading at about $16,610. In response to the Federal Reserve's hawkish remarks last week about tightening monetary policy until it is "sufficiently restrictive" to lower inflation, equity markets likewise began the new week with losses. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed down 1.49%. The S&P 500 slid 0.90% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.49%.
Ether (ETH): The second-largest cryptocurrency dropped to $1,170, around 0.5% lower than BTC.
Storj (STORJ) and Filecoin (FIL) both saw price declines during the last five days of 28% and 20%, respectively. According to data from Coinglass, there were record-breaking liquidations on long positions for storage protocol tokens on December 16. Nearly $5.7 million in long FIL holdings and $365,000 in long STORJ positions were both liquidated.
Bitcoin Correlations Show the Dollar Still Rules in Crypto Market Analysis (In the Inverse)
Tracking the correlation between bitcoin and copper has been interesting; it reached a high of 0.9 last week. Since then, it has dropped to 0.41, raising concerns about its trustworthiness.
BTC's price is still mainly dependent on the Federal Reserve's decisions about monetary policy, barring a "black swan" occurrence unique to a centralized crypto entity. With the Sam Bankman-Fried story starting to fade, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is once again posing as the main adversary of cryptocurrency, even if accidentally.
The lesson here is that market perceptions of Fed officials' words as well as inflation rates, the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet, and other factors will significantly influence the price of crypto assets. Old-school markets and economics continue to have an impact on the development of a more recent asset class that can operate independently of conventional finance.
