According to The Block, a U.S. federal judge ruled that the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase can delist the wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), and denied the request for a temporary restraining order filed by Hong Kong custodian BiT Global, which is affiliated with Justin Sun, the founder of the TRON blockchain.
According to a previous report by Zombit, the cryptocurrency custodian BitGo announced in August that it would transfer its WBTC business to a multi-jurisdictional joint venture company established in cooperation with BiT Global, forming a strategic partnership between BitGo, the TRON ecosystem, and Justin Sun. This move has raised concerns among some industry players, who believe it may pose challenges to the DeFi ecosystem.
In November, Coinbase announced that it would delist wBTC on December 19 based on "listing standards", which occurred after the company launched its own wrapped Bitcoin version, cbBTC. Last week, BiT Global applied for a temporary restraining order, attempting to prevent Coinbase from delisting this tokenized Bitcoin product, arguing that this would cause imminent and irreparable harm and accusing Coinbase of violating several federal and state laws aimed at promoting fair competition.
However, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín stated on Wednesday that there was no reason to prevent Coinbase from removing the asset.
A person familiar with the lawsuit case told The Block: "They tried to completely block our action, but the court today ruled that none of their application requirements were met."
In a court filing submitted yesterday, Coinbase stated that BiT Global's advisor, Justin Sun, had faced "multiple" allegations of "financial impropriety". Coinbase's representatives also said: "We are a private company, and we have the right to decide which products should or should not be listed on our platform - even if it's the wrong decision."
WBTC was launched in 2019 as a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed ERC20 token, allowing traders to use their Bitcoin assets in decentralized applications within the Ethereum ecosystem, and currently has a market capitalization of around $13.5 billion. Coinbase's cbBTC, which is also 1:1 Bitcoin-backed, has grown to over $2 billion in market value since its launch in September this year.
