Bitcoin SV (BSV) Investors Lose Class Action Lawsuit Against Binance

The United Kingdom’s Court of Appeal partially dismissed a lawsuit brought by Bitcoin SV investors against major crypto exchanges, including Binance

Major crypto exchange Binance has partially won a lawsuit brought by Bitcoin SV (BSV) investors, who are seeking billions in damages over the alleged conspiracy to delist the token in 2019, reports the Financial Times.

The case, which reached the United Kingdom’s Court of Appeal, began after several BSV investors sued Binance, along with several other exchanges, for allegedly agreeing to delist the token.

The investors, who held BSV through the delisting period (sub-class B), were not entitled to billions in speculative damages based on BSV’s hypothetical growth, the court ruled on Monday, May 21.

Those investors claimed over 8.9 billion pounds ($11.9 billion) in damages, asserting that Binance’s delisting deprived holders of the chance to profit from BSV’s potential rise to a “top-tier cryptocurrency” like Bitcoin (BTC) or Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

However, the Court of Appeal ruled that the ‘foregone growth effect’ theory was not applicable in this case.

“BSV was obviously not a unique cryptocurrency without reasonably similar cryptocurrencies, as is shown by the representative’s own selection of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash as the relevant comparators,” stated the judges.

Sub-class B’s central claim was that the delisting led to the investors being unable to benefit from the cryptocurrency’s price appreciation, but the court said those investors had the opportunity to mitigate their losses by selling or reinvesting in other crypto assets.

“They had a duty to mitigate their losses,” wrote Master of the Rolls Sir Geoffrey Vos. “They cannot recover losses that they could reasonably have mitigated.”

Earlier this year, the crypto exchange also applied to strike out a claim by members of a ‘securities class’ who are seeking to sue Binance in the British courts.

The investors, who bought Binance tokens between 2018 and 2021, are attempting to sue the exchange for allegedly breaching the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.