A lawsuit against Bitmain, Roger Ver, Kraken, and others that was previously allowed to go forward has been dismissed in a Florida US court.
First Allowed, Then Dismissed
Brought by UnitedCorp, the lawsuit alleged that Bitmain and Roger Ver colluded to redirect hashpower in order to avoid the “network upgrade” that would become Bitcoin SV, a hardfork away from Bitcoin Cash.
The lawsuit named a lot of parties. Even Bitcoin ABC main developer Amaury Sechet found himself named in the suit. After an earlier decision this week which allowed the case to go forward, ignoring a request by Kraken’s lawyers to see it thrown out, the defendant parties may have been a little worried.
Roger Ver reportedly said:
My understanding is that means that UnitedCorp basically has lost their case already, but the judge is letting them amend it to see if they can come up with a better argument.
The way the case has been dismissed by Judge Chris McAliley allows UnitedCorp to refile their lawsuit. The litigants had seemed hopeful at the beginning of the week, when the case was first given the greenlight.
UnitedCorp V. Bitmain et al.: Over or Not?
At this point, the court sees no reason to hear the rest of the case. UnitedCorp’s CEO reportedly said:
Bitcoin was developed as a decentralized and distributed peer‐to‐peer electronic cash system operating under democratic principles created within the network. Any move to centralize or control the network is against its very philosophy and foundation.
While they have not commented publicly about whether they will re-file their lawsuit, at this point it would seem that UnitedCorp are likely to try again. Many in the Bitcoin Cash universe felt slighted by the way the fork went down, after all, and UnitedCorp are just one party trying to seek retribution.
But the question that the defendants raised is whether they were barking up the right tree. After all, all they did was reject some changes to the network introduced by Craig Wright, Calvin Ayre, and others. Ultimately, they had more network support, and were able to retain the name Bitcoin Cash.
At this point, it appears Bitmain, Roger Ver, and others will not be on the hook for any damages. That could, of course, change in the future if UnitedCorp decides to refile and has more success the second time around.
That remains to be seen.
