High Profile Crypto Execs Dodge Bitcoin Cash ‘Hijack’ Lawsuit
Andrew Asmakov, 02 April 2021
A federal court in Florida has dismissed an antitrust suit filed against Bitcoin.com founder Roger Ver and several other prominent figures in the crypto industry, accused of market manipulation during a contentious split of the Bitcoin Cash network in November 2018, Law360 reported.
Other defendants in the case included Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, former CEO of Bitmain Technologies Jihan Wu, as well as Bitcoin Cash developers Shammah Chancellor and Jason Cox.
First filed by United American Corp (UAC) in December 2018 and amended in March 2020, the lawsuit claimed that the defendants colluded to manipulate the cryptocurrency market to favor Bitcoin Cash as some participants on the network were engaged in creating a competing clone called Bitcoin SV.
During the Bitcoin SV hard fork—an event when a network splits in two separate chains—the defendants allegedly “hijacked” the Bitcoin Cash network and “violated all accepted standards and protocols associated with Bitcoin since its inception.”
However, on Wednesday, April 1, Judge Chris McAliley of the Southern District of Florida dismissed the case. According to the ruling, to be considered by the court the complaint “must state facts–not conclusions–that plausibly suggest a conspiracy.”
At least two of two of UAC’s counts in complaint are direct allegations lacking in substance, the judge said.
