Justin Sun-linked custodian BiT Global has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 billion in damages from U.S. exchange Coinbase over its decision to delist Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and promote its own competing wrapped Bitcoin product, cbBTC. WBTC, launched in 2019 and historically the dominant tokenized Bitcoin on Ethereum, has long relied on custodial arrangements in which users deposit BTC and receive WBTC in return; BiT Global became the primary custodian following a 2020 restructuring of the project’s operations. Coinbase announced in November 2024 that it would suspend WBTC trading as of December 19, saying only that the asset no longer met its listing standards after a routine review. Around the same time, Coinbase had launched cbBTC on Ethereum and its Layer 2 network Base, describing the new token as strategically important. In its complaint filed in the Northern District of California by law firm Kneupper & Covey, BiT Global accuses Coinbase of anticompetitive conduct, including attempted monopolization of the wrapped Bitcoin market under the Sherman Act and state law claims relating to allegedly false or misleading statements about WBTC’s compliance with listing criteria. The lawsuit argues that Coinbase used “listing standards” as a pretext while listing highly speculative memecoins such as PEPE, claiming this undercuts the rationale for delisting a long-established asset like WBTC. BiT Global says the delisting and Coinbase’s messaging damaged WBTC’s market position, liquidity, and reputation, harmed consumers, and were designed to steer users toward cbBTC instead. Coinbase has responded publicly that it regularly evaluates tokens and delists those that fail to meet its standards, but has not disclosed detailed reasons specific to WBTC. The case highlights growing competitive and regulatory pressure in the tokenized Bitcoin and broader crypto exchange markets, where listing and delisting decisions can have multibillion-dollar implications for projects and their backers.

AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

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