US DOJ is appealing New York judge’s decision to approve Voyager’s sale to Binance.US

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an appeal late Thursday night, challenging a New York bankruptcy judge to allow Binance.US’s billion-dollar plan to buy the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital.

The appeal, filed by the US Trustee’s Office – an arm of the DOJ responsible for overseeing bankruptcies – comes just one day after Judge Michael Wiles approved the deal following a contentious four-day marathon hearing.

Regulators, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and various state regulators have strongly opposed the proposed deal. Last month, the SEC filed an objection to the purchase of Voyager, arguing that Binance.US could violate federal securities laws by operating an unregistered securities exchange in the United States

However, Judge Wiles appeared unfazed by the SEC̵[ads1]7;s concerns, telling the lawyers present at the hearing that the bankruptcy code “does not address an infinite period of time.”

“Things have to be done. We have creditors who are waiting and who, in the midst of all this uncertainty, don’t have access to property that they have invested in, in some cases, their life savings, so we have to take some kind of action,” Wiles said. “We have to do something.”

Under the proposed sale to Binance.US, Voyager’s customers will see an estimated 73% recovery. The plan, which was put together after FTX – Voyager’s former top bidder – filed for bankruptcy of its own in November, was backed by 97% of Voyager’s creditors.

If Voyager decides not to go through with its current plan to sell itself to Binance.US — or if regulators succeed in blocking the sale — another option is for the bankrupt lender to liquidate itself, which would likely result in a lot less return for creditors.