UK Appeals Court Dismisses $13.3B Bitcoin SV Lawsuit Against Binance; Investors Had Chance to Mitigate Losses

A UK Court of Appeals has dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by Bitcoin SV (BSV) investors against Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges

A British appeals court has dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by Bitcoin SV (BSV) investors against Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges.

The investors were seeking between $11.9 billion to $13.3 billion in damages. They claimed that the 2019 delisting of BSV from these platforms led to investors suffering losses. However, the court ruled that the investors had opportunities to mitigate their losses after the delisting and described the argument that BSV could have rivaled Bitcoin (BTC) as speculative.

"It is clear that the optimum course of conduct for the optimum interest of the Claimants after the Delisting would have been to sell their BSV holdings at the best price obtainable in the market. This optimum course of conduct was not open to the Claimants because they were not able to agree on a course of action," the appeals court ruled.

"The Claimants had the chance to mitigate their losses after the Delisting but chose not to do so. The optimum course of conduct for minimizing the Claimants’ losses would have been to sell their BSV holdings at the best price obtainable in the market after the Delisting."

The appeals court went on to dismiss the argument that BSV could have rivaled BTC if it weren't for the actions of these cryptocurrency exchanges.

"This was a matter of speculation and conjecture. There was no evidence to support this claim. It was also irrelevant to the present case. The optimum course of conduct for the Claimants after the Delisting would have been to sell their BSV holdings at the best price obtainable in the market."

Binance Has Requested a U.S. Federal Court to Dismiss a Related Class Action Lawsuit

A U.S. federal court has been requested by Binance to dismiss a related class action lawsuit. In this lawsuit, investors are claiming that they lost money due to Binance's decision to delist BSV in 2019.

According to the request seen on Monday, Binance is aiming to have the lawsuit dismissed as it is subject to a binding arbitration clause in its user agreement. This clause dictates that any legal disputes should be settled through private arbitration rather than in open court.

The investors, who bought BSV during the 2017 bull market, are seeking to recover losses they allegedly incurred when Binance delisted the token in March 2019. BSV's price dropped sharply following the delisting, leading to unrest among the investors who had faith in BSV, especially in light of setbacks faced by Bitcoin in reaching new highs at the time.

The investors' lawsuit, filed in December 2022, alleges that Binance misled investors by touting BSV as a viable investment option while secretly planning to delist it as part of a strategy to benefit itself and a small group of insiders.

The lawsuit claims that Binance deceived investors by touting BSV as a viable investment option while secretly planning to delist it as part of a strategy to benefit itself and a small group of insiders. It alleges that Binance's actions were motivated by a desire to benefit itself and a small group of insiders, leading to the downfall of BSV and causing significant losses to investors who relied on Binance's representations.

Lukoil Unit's Lawsuit Against Turkey's Palmali Dismissed by UK Court

A British court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Lukoil's Litasco against Turkey-based Palmali, which had claimed that the oil trader was unable to fulfill a large-scale oil products deal due to problems with a bank.

The lawsuit, which was brought in December 2022, arose from a 2021 agreement for Palmali to supply 1.5 million metric tons of jet fuel and diesel to Litasco over a 12-month period.

According to the court documents, Palmali managed to deliver only a small portion of the fuel oil and jet fuel to Litasco by December 2022. As a result, Litasco terminated the agreement in January 2023 and initiated legal action to recover damages.

However, the court ruled in favor of Palmali, stating that Litasco had not met the conditions for the court to intervene in the matter.

"The optimum course of conduct for minimizing the Claimants’ losses would have been to sell their BSV holdings at the best price obtainable in the market after the Delisting.”