Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao has confirmed that the exchange's U.S. wing will be making a fresh bid for crypto lender Voyager now that the defunct FTX is unable to follow through with acquiring it.

CoinDesk reported last week that Binance.US would be preparing a bid for the bankrupt lending platform, which Zhao confirmed in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday.

"Binance.US will make another bid for Voyager now, given FTX is no longer able to follow through on that commitment," he said.

Following Voyager's bankruptcy, FTX emerged as the front runner to acquire the lender, with Binance's bid said to be held back by concerns that it would represent a national security concern for the U.S. government.

"I think the U.S. national security concerns were rumors spread by FTX to try and push us out of the bid," Zhao said. "There was never any concerns about us participating in the bid."

Binance has been dogged by claims that it is a Chinese company, given it is the country of Zhao's birth, though he grew up in Canada. "I am a Canadian citizen, period," he wrote in a blog post in September.

(By Jamie Crawley)