The Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom dismissed the majority of the lawsuit brought by Bitcoin SV (BSV) investors against cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance. The plaintiffs accused the exchanges of colluding to delist the token in 2019 and sought over £8.9 billion (approximately $11.9 billion) in compensation for alleged losses from potential profits they could have earned had BSV remained listed.
This is reported by Business • Media
Court’s Position on Compensation
On May 21, the court ruled that investors who held BSV at the time of the token’s removal from exchanges cannot claim compensation for hypothetical speculative losses. The plaintiffs’ argument regarding the loss of profit opportunities was rejected, as the ruling stated,
“BSV was clearly not a unique cryptocurrency without reasonably similar substitutes,”
the court noted, referencing the plaintiffs’ own examples of using Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash as alternatives. The key idea of the claim regarding the “loss of chance” for profit was also dismissed, as the court emphasized the obligation of investors to mitigate their losses, such as by selling BSV or investing in other cryptocurrencies after the delisting announcement. The head of the Court of Appeal, Judge Jeffrey Vos, stressed that one cannot claim compensation for losses that could have been avoided.
Future Prospects and Binance’s Reaction
The court did not accept the notion that the loss of the chance for future profits could be a basis for compensation, reminding of the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. However, the part of the lawsuit concerning possible inadequate disclosure to investors about the upcoming delisting of the token will still be considered. The court highlighted that even if such claims were upheld, compensation would not exceed the market value of the assets at the time of delisting and direct proven losses.
For Binance, this ruling was a legal victory. In this context, the company also filed a motion for the complete dismissal of the $1.76 billion lawsuit brought by the liquidation committee of the FTX exchange. Binance argues that the collapse of FTX was caused by internal fraud, as evidenced by Sam Bankman-Fried’s guilty plea on multiple counts of fraud.
It is known that the streaming platform Netflix plans to create a series dedicated to the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.