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BiT International has filed a lawsuit towards Coinbase, the most important crypto buying and selling platform in america, in keeping with a Dec. 13 courtroom submitting.
The Justin Solar-linked crypto custodian alleged that the US alternate unfairly eliminated wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) from its platform to favor its in-house product, Coinbase Wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC).
Antitrust violations
In keeping with the courtroom submitting, Coinbase is leveraging its dominance within the crypto market to suppress competitors. BiT International accused the alternate of violating antitrust legal guidelines by changing WBTC with cbBTC to determine management over the wrapped Bitcoin market.
The criticism famous that Coinbase’s actions will not be solely anti-competitive however strategically aimed toward rising its transaction revenues as a result of transaction charges on its platform are anticipated to rise as cbBTC features traction.
The submitting furthered:
“On data and perception, Coinbase used this language—that it could not cost wrapping/unwrapping charges ‘right this moment’—as a result of it plans to take action as soon as it has unfairly eradicated the competitors.”
BiT International disputed Coinbase’s declare that WBTC was eliminated attributable to “itemizing requirements,” citing the alternate’s current inclusion of meme cash like PEPE and MOG as proof.
In keeping with the submitting, these actions reveal that the delisting was not about high quality however reasonably an try and seize WBTC’s market place. It added:
“The choice to permit customers to commerce these memecoins makes clear that Coinbase didn’t delist WBTC due to any itemizing customary, however as a result of Coinbase coveted WBTC’s market share and needed it for itself.”
Via this lawsuit, BiT International seeks to revive competitors and stop additional centralization of energy. The agency goals to halt the delisting of WBTC and defend decentralized innovation within the crypto area.
The wrapped Bitcoin market
Coinbase’s resolution to delist wBTC comes after a turbulent yr for the asset. BiT International turned a key custodian for WBTC this yr, following BitGo’s transfer to distribute custody management to a number of entities, together with the Hong Kong-based agency.
This shift sparked considerations inside the DeFi neighborhood attributable to Justin Solar’s connection to the crypto custodian, prompting MakerDAO and Aave to rethink WBTC as a collateral asset.
Whereas these DeFi protocols finally retained WBTC, the developments raised questions on its long-term stability. In response to those challenges, a number of companies, together with Coinbase, launched their very own wrapped Bitcoin merchandise.
Nonetheless, Coinbase’s cbBTC has rapidly gained momentum to change into the second-largest wrapped Bitcoin product behind WBTC. The token was deployed on Ethereum and its Layer 2 community Base in September and at present has a market capitalization of round $2 billion.
Alternatively, WBTC, regardless of being among the many prime 20 cryptocurrencies with a $13.7 billion market cap, has seen its token provide shrink by over 20,000 BTC attributable to ongoing challenges.