UK tribunal starts hearing $9B BSV delisting case

A case involving multiple exchanges delisting a certain token in 2019 continues to play out after five years, with the United Kingdom authorities starting proceedings against six companies.

The U.K.’s Competition Appeal Tribunal started a hearing on June 5 against six exchanges that delisted the forked cryptocurrency Bitcoin SV (BSV) in 2019.

The defendants include some of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges, such as Binance’s European arm, Binance Europe Services. Other defendants include Erik Voorhees’ crypto exchange ShapeShift, Kraken (represented as Payward), the Bitcoin (BTC) exchange Bittylicious and related entities.

According to data from BitMEX Research, each of the six defendants has their own legal team, resulting in a large number of lawyers being involved in the case and a vast amount of documentation.

The tribunal estimated that the collective proceedings order, or CPO, is expected to take three days.

Bitcoin SV was led by false ‘Satoshi’ Craig Wright

Bitcoin SV is a blockchain and cryptocurrency that forked away from Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in 2018. The blockchain’s name refers to “Satoshi’s vision” and was founded by a blockchain development firm affiliated with Craig Wright, who falsely declared himself as Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

The Bitcoin Cash fork battle triggered a split in the community, with different firms and prominent figures seeking to push their own narrative. Roger Ver, Bitmain and exchanges like Binance and Coinbase reportedly supported another forked coin, Bitcoin ABC.

Why did Binance, Kraken and ShapeShift delist BSV in 2019?

The class action lawsuit once again revisits a scandal involving a wave of BSV delistings in April 2019. Exchanges like Binance or Kraken reportedly provided no clear reason for the decisions to delist the token.

Kraken, for instance, said that BSV was engaging in behavior “completely antithetical” to everything at Kraken and in the broader crypto community. The exchange also ran a poll on X in 2019, which suggested that BSV was “toxic.”

Related: Crypto exchange Kraken has ‘no plans’ to delist USDT in Europe for now

Binance also didn’t provide much reasoning behind delisting BSV in 2019, only noting that it no longer met its standards.

Binance, Kraken and other exchanges eventually faced a $12 billion U.K. class action over BSV delisting in 2022, with plaintiff BSV Claims demanding compensation for delistings. According to the plaintiffs, those who held BSV after the 2019 delistings are due $9 billion in compensation due to the growth opportunity that they missed.

According to the plaintiffs, those who held BSV after the 2019 delistings are due $9 billion in compensation due to the growth opportunity that they missed.

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