Digital asset custodian BiT Global has officially dropped its antitrust lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The suit, which accused Coinbase of delisting BiT Global’s “wrapped” bitcoin product to promote its own competing token, has been dismissed with prejudice following a federal judge’s indication last month that the case was unlikely to proceed.
In a joint stipulation filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, BiT Global and Coinbase informed U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin that the parties have agreed to dismiss the claims against Coinbase, with each side bearing its own fees and costs.
The original lawsuit, filed by BiT Global in December, alleged that Coinbase removed BiT’s wBTC token from its platform shortly after launching its own similar product, cbBTC. BiT Global claimed this move was intended to neutralize competition by leveraging Coinbase’s dominant market position.
However, during a hearing last month, Judge Martinez-Olguin expressed skepticism regarding the allegations, stating that BiT Global had not plausibly demonstrated that Coinbase misrepresented its reasons for delisting wBTC or that any statements made by Coinbase were false.
Following the dismissal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal stated on social media that BiT Global had dropped what he described as a “contrived lawsuit” and emphasized that the outcome reaffirms Coinbase’s right to manage security and risk for its users.
BiT Global Digital Ltd. was represented by Kevin Kneupper and A. Cyclone Covey of Kneupper & Covey PC. Coinbase was represented by Sonal N. Mehta, David Z. Gringer, and Paul T. Vanderslice of WilmerHale.
Case: BiT Global Digital Ltd. v. Coinbase Global Inc., Case No. 5:24-cv-09019, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.
