Binance seeks to reduce size of $13 billion BSV lawsuit

Binance and exchanges including Kraken are being sued at London's Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in a case brought on behalf of more than 200,000 BSV owners

Crypto exchange Binance on Wednesday sought to throw out the vast majority of a London lawsuit worth up to $12.8 billion over claims it and other exchanges colluded to "delist" the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) crypto currency.

Binance and exchanges including Kraken are being sued at London's CAT in a case brought on behalf of more than 200,000 BSV owners.

Lawyers representing BSV Claims, a vehicle set up to pursue the case, say the exchanges engaged in anti-competitive behaviour to delist Bitcoin Satoshi Vision in 2019.

They argue the move caused the value of BSV to slump and prevented it becoming a "top tier" crypto currency, valuing that part of the claim at up to £9 billion.

BSV Claims' lawyers said the exchanges were not opposing the case being certified under the UK's collective proceedings regime. Such certification would be just the first step in the lawsuit.

But Binance has asked the Competition Appeal Tribunal to throw out the part of the case about Bitcoin Satoshi Vision's alleged potential to become a major crypto currency, which is being brought on behalf of people who kept BSV after it was delisted.

Binance's lawyer Brian Kennelly said people who kept BSV had made "an entirely voluntary decision". They "could reasonably have sold it and reinvested it in comparable crypto currency", Kennelly said.

BSV Claims' lawyers argued in court documents that the issue should proceed to trial with the rest of the case.

Binance declined to comment on ongoing litigation. A spokesperson for Kraken said the lawsuit was "baseless".

Binance, Kraken and other exchanges delisted BSV in 2019, partly in response to claims by Australian computer scientist Craig Wright, who was associated with Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, that he was the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin known as "Satoshi Nakamoto".