Coinbase takes aim at Justin Sun in WBTC lawsuit response

Coinbase has filed its response to BiT Global’s lawsuit over the delisting of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). 

Justin Sun-advised BiT Global’s original lawsuit centered around Coinbase’s decision to delist WBTC. The custody provider alleged that this was an unfair assault on its reputation that could potentially lead to it losing “more than $1 billion in its market valuation.”

It additionally alleges that Coinbase was attempting to monopolize the tokenized bitcoin (BTC) space to favor its own product, Coinbase Wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC).

BiT Global is seeking an order that would obligate Coinbase to relist WBTC.

Read more: Justin Sun-advised HTX has redeemed 7,300 WBTC it did not disclose

In its response to the lawsuit, Coinbase took aim at Sun. It pointed out that the decision to delist WBTC was centered around a belief that there was an “unacceptable risk that control of wBTC would fall into the hands of Justin Sun.” 

Coinbase’s filing also noted that BiT Global “refused to answer” questions “about who ultimately owned and controlled BiT.”

Furthermore, the exchange noted that it makes up “less than 1% of transactions involving wBTC,” suggesting BiT may have been exaggerating the potential harm to its business from this delisting.

Read more: Justin Sun has 99 problems and WBTC is two of them 

The filing also challenges the reputational harms suggested by BiT Global, pointing out that “long before Coinbase took any action,” the market already started to react to the change in WBTC. According to Coinbase, this means “any diminished trust in wBTC was caused by its association with Mr. Sun — not by Coinbase.”

Exhibits attached to the filings and declarations also directly asked BiT Global about Sun’s other tokenized BTC project, which is offered by Poloniex and for which he refuses to confirm collateral

BiT wasn’t able to verify the collateral of this other product.

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