A federal judge has ruled in favor of Coinbase, allowing the exchange to proceed with its plans to suspend trading of Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) despite a legal challenge from BiT Global.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Dec. 18, during a virtual hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Judge Araceli Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn declined to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent Coinbase from delisting wBTC. This decision followed BiT Global’s Dec. 13 lawsuit alleging that Coinbase’s action would harm the wBTC market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BiT Global argued that delisting wBTC would result in significant financial losses for wBTC holders. However, Judge Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn ruled that the firm failed to demonstrate \u201cimminent irreparable harm.\u201d She noted that BiT Global’s weeks-long delay between Coinbase\u2019s announcement in November and the lawsuit in December weakened its case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, the judge criticized BiT Global’s arguments as speculative, citing a lack of evidence to substantiate claims of market disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coinbase announced on Nov. 19 that it would suspend trading of wBTC starting Dec. 19, citing concerns over the coin\u2019s potential ties to Tron founder Justin Sun. In its court filings, Coinbase described Sun\u2019s involvement with BiT Global, which shares control of wBTC\u2019s reserves with BitGo, as an “unacceptable risk.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The exchange pointed to Sun\u2019s history of legal challenges in the U.S., including allegations of fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Coinbase stated it could not risk exposure to potential misconduct tied to Sun\u2019s association with the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BiT Global, reportedly affiliated with Justin Sun, sought to halt the delisting by claiming that Sun\u2019s involvement was merely a “pretext” for Coinbase’s decision. Cyclone Covey, BiT Global\u2019s attorney, accused Coinbase of acting inconsistently, highlighting that the exchange had criticized regulators like the SEC in other cases but relied on their claims against Sun to justify its actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Covey argued that Coinbase did not raise concerns about Sun\u2019s involvement in wBTC until months after BitGo\u2019s August announcement of the partnership with BiT Global. He alleged that Coinbase delayed its due diligence and acted without transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Judge Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn denied the TRO, she left the door open for BiT Global to present additional arguments to potentially block Coinbase\u2019s suspension of wBTC trading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A federal judge has ruled in favor of Coinbase, allowing the exchange to proceed with its plans to suspend trading of Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) despite a legal challenge from BiT Global. On Dec. 18, during a virtual hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Judge Araceli Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn declined to issue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,2,40],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-exchange","8":"category-featured","9":"category-regulation"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n