Lawyers for US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase have requested a federal judge dismiss a lawsuit filed by BiT Global over the firm’s decision to delist wrapped BTC (wBTC).
In a Jan. 21 filing in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Coinbase asked the court to dismiss the BiT Global complaint, citing the firm’s affiliation with Tron founder Justin Sun. The exchange’s legal team said its decision to delist wrapped Bitcoin was “due to the unacceptable risk that control of wBTC would fall into the hands of Mr. Sun.”
“The Court should dismiss BiT’s complaint in full,” said Coinbase. “And it should do so with prejudice, as the most fundamental of these pleading failures — including Coinbase’s lack of market power given BiT’s conceded dominance, the lack of any exclusionary conduct, the absence of any false statement, and BiT’s repeated inability to demonstrate injury — cannot possibly be cured.”
Coinbase motion to dismiss filed on Jan. 21. Source: PACER
Coinbase announced in November 2024 that it would suspend wBTC trading starting on Dec. 19. BiT Global responded with a lawsuit filed on Dec. 13, claiming Coinbase had harmed the wBTC market by choosing to delist the token. A judge declined to issue a restraining order barring the exchange from delisting wBTC.
The custodian holding wBTC’s Bitcoin reserves, BitGo, announced in August 2024 that it would share control of the crypto with BiT Global in a partnership with Sun. Coinbase raised concerns in several court filings about complaints filed by US authorities against the Tron founder.
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According to the Jan. 21 filing, the court will consider the motion to dismiss in an April 3 hearing. Cointelegraph reached out to BiT Global for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Coinbase faces a lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed in 2023, which has been stayed pending an appeal to the Second Circuit. The exchange has also been pursuing the SEC in court to establish clear rules of the road for crypto firms operating in the US.
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