The world’s biggest crypto exchange by trading volume, Binance, has moved ahead to dismiss the majority of a lawsuit worth up to £10 billion ($12.8 billion) in London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT). It has been alleged that Binance and other exchanges decided to “delist” the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV).
Binance doesn’t want BSV lawsuit
The crucial lawsuit is backed by over 200,000 BSV holders who accuse exchanges of anti-competitive behavior that impacted BSV’s value and market position.
BSV Claims contends that exchanges engaged in collusion to delist BSV in 2019. The list includes the names of Binance and Kraken. The advocacy group alleges that the delisting of BSV led to a major value drop of the tokens. This action was taken to prevent BSV from becoming a “top tier” cryptocurrency. BSV Claims estimates this part of the claim to be valued at up to £9 billion.
According to reports, the exchanges are accused of violating competition laws. They have allegedly breached Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Section 2 of the UK’s Competition Act 1998.
It also highlights a series of tweets done between April 12 and April 19, 2019. This has been dubbed as the “Collusive Tweets,” where exchanges are announcing their intention to delist BSV. However, they did delist the token between April 15 and June 5, 2019.
What’s happening in the lawsuit?
In the latest development, Binance has urged the CAT to dismiss the portion of the lawsuit which are linked to BSV’s claims.
Binance’s lawyer had argued that investors who held onto BSV made an “entirely voluntary decision”. Brian Kennelly highlighted that holders had the option to sell and reinvest in other cryptos.
The report added that Binance is not opposing the certification of the lawsuit under the UK’s collective proceedings regime despite seeking dismissal of some parts of the case.
It is important to note that the biggest crypto exchange hasn’t made any comment on the matter. Meanwhile, a Kraken spokesperson has labeled the lawsuit as “baseless.”
This needs to be focused that the delisting of BSV in 2019 was partly influenced by claims from Australian computer scientist Craig Wright. He claimed to be the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin, “Satoshi Nakamoto.”
Recently it was found out that Wright falsified claims and documents supporting his identity as Satoshi, and he has indicated plans to appeal that ruling.
