FTX shouldn't be able to buy Voyager assets until after investigation: Texas authorities

Texas financial regulators and attorney general want to prevent FTX’s purchase of Voyager Digital assets on the basis that the company isn’t compliant with securities and money transmitter laws.

“FTX US should not be permitted to purchase the assets of the debtor unless or until the Securities Commissioner has an opportunity to determine whether FTX US is complying with the law and related and/or affiliated companies, including companies commonly controlled by the same management, are complying with the law,” according to a new filing made Friday. 

Joseph Jason Rotunda, the Director of Enforcement Division of the Texas State Securities Board, said in the filing that he was able to sign up for an account and earn yield on FTX despite the company’s declaration that it doesn’t onboard people in the U.S.

FTX won the auction for bankrupt lender Voyager Digital and its assets with a bid of around $1.4 billion late last month. 

“The yield program appears to be an investment contract, evidence of indebtedness and note, and as such appears to be regulated as a security in Texas,” the amended filing argues, while also noting that FTX is not a licensed money transmitter or securities dealer in the state of Texas.