Binance faces £10 billion lawsuit in London over delisting of Bitcoin Satoshi Vision
The lawsuit, brought by BSV Claims on behalf of over 200,000 BSV owners, alleges anti-competitive behaviour.
Crypto exchange Binance has requested the dismissal of most of a £10 billion ($12.8 billion) lawsuit in London, alleging collusion with other exchanges to delist the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) cryptocurrency. The lawsuit, brought to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) on behalf of over 200,000 BSV owners, claims that exchanges, including Kraken, engaged in anti-competitive behaviour to delist BSV in 2019, causing its value to plummet and hindering its potential to become a ‘top tier’ cryptocurrency.
BSV Claims’ lawyers argue that the delisting prevented BSV from gaining prominence and have valued this aspect of the claim at up to £9 billion. Despite not opposing the case’s certification under the UK’s collective proceedings regime, Binance’s lawyer, Brian Kennelly, argued that those who retained BSV made a voluntary decision and could have reinvested in other cryptocurrencies.
While Binance declined to comment on the ongoing litigation, Kraken described the lawsuit as ‘baseless.’ The delisting of BSV by Binance, Kraken, and others in 2019 followed claims by Australian computer scientist Craig Wright, who asserted he was the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin, ‘Satoshi Nakamoto.’ Wright was recently found to have lied and forged documents to support his claim, a ruling he intends to appeal.