- Arguments concerning the $13 billion BSV Claims class action lawsuit were heard for the first time yesterday
- Lawyers for BSV Claims argued that tweets about delisting BSV in 2019 constituted collusion
- The targeted exchanges countered that holders had ample warning to sell before delisting
The battle lines were drawn yesterday in the $13 billion class action lawsuit brought by BSV Claims against four cryptocurrency exchanges. Lawyers for BSV Claims argued that a series of tweets discussing the delisting of BSV in April 2019, including a Twitter poll run by one of the defendants, Kraken, constituted collusion, which damaged the value of BSV. In response, the exchanges argued that holders had plenty of warning of the prevailing mood and could have sold at any time up to the delisting. The hearing, which will run over three days, will determine whether the exchanges have a case to answer.
240,000+ Victims
BSV Claims filed the suit in 2022, arguing that 240,000+ BSV holders in the UK were harmed when the exchanges delisted BSV, although that number is an approximation based on factors the company explained yesterday on the first day of a three-day hearing.
The first day of the hearing saw lawyers for BSV Claims argue that holders missed out on huge gains due to the actions of the exchanges, which was how they came to the astonishing $13 billion figure. At the Competition Appeal Tribunal yesterday, the lawyers compared BSV to Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, claiming similarity because the former is a fork of the two latter coins, and made the calculation based on the rise in value of its two compatriots in the years since.
This, as some pointed out on X, is an assumption that stretches the term ‘hypothetical’ to its limit:
Hahahahahahahahaha! They compared BSV to #bitcoin!!! OMFG, I can’t breathe with laughing. Hahahahaha! Hahahahahahahaha! I’m literally dying here!!! Hahahahaha! Oh, my heart! Wish I’d told someone where to find my seedphrase ………
— Mr ₿it (@MrFict) June 5, 2024
While Bitcoin has seen a huge increase in adoption since 2019, including multiple ETFs worldwide, BSV has struggled to maintain any kind of use case in the crypto world, despite its backers promising institutional adoption at every turn.
Holders Had Plenty of Time to Sell
The lawyers for the four exchanges, Kraken, Binance, Shapeshift, and Bittylicious, argued that holders had plenty of time and opportunities to sell their coins and so mitigate the loss, that a sudden loss of value is a risk that crypto holders are well aware of, and argued that the potential delistings were discussed in online communities.
BSV’s figurehead, Craig Wright, was also ebullient about Binance’s removal of BSV at the time:
The BSV community is famous for rejoicing whenever it gets delisted from an exchange, as has happened multiple times since, claiming that they don’t want it listed on “bucket shops” anyway.
BSV Claims is hoping to receive certification that a class action lawsuit is the appropriate vehicle for the claim and, if so, whether the claim should be ‘opt-in’ or ‘opt-out’. Class action lawsuits are notoriously difficult to get approval for, especially in the UK where they are very rare, with every single case having to be identical in every single respect. In this case, that constitutes some 240,000.
