• A US bankruptcy judge has criticized the SEC for its opposition to a Binance-Voyager deal that would involve the sale of over $1 billion in assets.
• The SEC has objected to the plan, citing securities law violations, but has yet to provide specific reasons as to why.
• Judge Wiles was unimpressed with this lack of clarity and asked the SEC to provide specifics on their objections.
Binance-Voyager Deal Criticized By US Bankruptcy Judge
A U.S. bankruptcy judge has spoken out about the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) opposition to a Voyager restructuring deal proposed by Binance. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles made his comments at a court hearing in New York on March 2nd regarding the Voyager Digital plan which would involve the sale of just over $1 billion worth of its assets to Binance.US.
SEC Opposition To Deal
However, the SEC has opposed the deal claiming that it violates securities laws; although when questioned about their reasoning behind this opposition, SEC attorney William Uptegrove failed to provide a definite answer, according to Reuters. The SEC attorney said „we can’t take a position at this point,“ before adding „the SEC is a deliberative body and its process is a nonpublic one by federal law.“ This response did not impress Judge Wiles who responded: „Deliberative is one thing, but what have you done? If there are reasons to be concerned here, I need to hear specifics.“
SEC Crypto Warpath Continues
The SEC has been increasingly targeting crypto companies this year with an apparent aim of making sure every crypto asset apart from Bitcoin is classified as a security under federal law; in this particular case they feel Voyager’s VGX sale violated securities laws but so far have failed to offer any specific details as to why they object so strongly against it.
Judge Wiles‘ Response
In response Judge Wiles said: “Deliberative is one thing, but what have you done? If there are reasons to be concerned here, I need to hear specifics.“ He added that he needed more information from the regulator before he could make an informed decision on whether or not he should approve or reject the proposed restructuring deal between Binance and Voyager Digital Ltd..
Conclusion
It appears that Judge Wiles will not move forward with any decision until he gets further clarification from the SEC regarding their objections against the deal; for now we wait for further developments in what may end up being an interesting legal battle between two regulatory heavyweights – Binance and The U.S Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).