A Dec. 13 filing in court shows that BiT Global filed a suit against Coinbase, which is the biggest crypto trading platform of the United States.
Justin Sun, a crypto-custodian linked to the Justin Sun group, alleged that US Exchange removed wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), displacing it in favour of Coinbase Wrapped Bitcoin(cbBTC), its proprietary product.
Violations of antitrust laws
According to a court document, Coinbase has been using its dominant position in the cryptomarket to suppress competition. BiT Global alleged that the exchange violated antitrust laws when it replaced WBTC by cbBTC in order to gain control of the wrapped Bitcoin markets.
The complaint noted that Coinbase’s actions are not only anti-competitive but strategically aimed at increasing its transaction revenues because transaction fees on its platform are expected to rise as cbBTC gains traction.
This filing was further:
“On information and belief, Coinbase used this language—that it would not charge wrapping/unwrapping fees ‘today’—because it plans to do so once it has unfairly eliminated the competition.”
BiT Global disputed Coinbase’s claim that WBTC was removed due to “listing standards,” citing the exchange’s recent inclusion of meme coins like PEPE and MOG as evidence.
According to the filing, these actions reveal that the delisting was not about quality but rather an attempt to capture WBTC’s market position. This was followed by:
“The decision to allow users to trade these memecoins makes clear that Coinbase did not delist WBTC because of any listing standard, but because Coinbase coveted WBTC’s market share and wanted it for itself.”
BiT Global is suing to prevent centralization and restore the competition. The firm wants to stop the delisting WBTC, and preserve decentralized innovation within the crypto-space.
Bitcoin wrapped market
Coinbase’s decision to delist wBTC comes after a turbulent year for the asset. BiT Global became a key custodian for WBTC this year, following BitGo’s move to distribute custody control to multiple entities, including the Hong Kong-based firm.
This shift sparked concerns within the DeFi community due to Justin Sun’s connection to the crypto custodian, prompting MakerDAO and Aave to reconsider WBTC as a collateral asset.
These DeFi protocols retained WBTC in the end, but their development raised doubts about its stability. In response to these challenges, several firms, including Coinbase, launched their own wrapped Bitcoin products.
However, Coinbase’s cbBTC has quickly gained momentum to become the second-largest wrapped Bitcoin product behind WBTC. In September, the token was launched on Ethereum’s Layer 2 network Base and has an estimated market cap of $2 billion.
WBTC’s token supply has shrunk by more than 20,000 BTC, even though it is among the top 20 crypto assets with a total market cap of $13.7 Billion.
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