A California federal judge has ruled in favor of crypto exchange Coinbase, permitting it to proceed with the delisting of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the US District Court for the Northern District of California made the decision after a legal challenge from BiT Global, a digital asset custodian partly owned by Tron founder Justin Sun.
The conflict started in November 2024 when Coinbase said it would remove WBTC from its listings, pointing to worries about its connections to Sun, who is facing accusations of fraud and market manipulation.
BiT Global has filed a $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against Coinbase. They want a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the delisting, claiming it would upset the WBTC market and hurt investors financially.
On December 18, Judge Martínez-Olguín denied BiT Global’s request for a temporary restraining order, saying the company did not show enough proof of immediate and serious harm.
The judge noted that BiT Global’s late filing of the lawsuit after Coinbase’s announcement hurt its case. Coinbase explained its actions by pointing out BiT Global’s unclear ownership and worries about Sun’s impact on the token’s trustworthiness.
The court gave BiT Global a chance to provide better evidence later, but the decision let Coinbase move forward with the delisting of WBTC on December 19. Coinbase has recently launched its own wrapped bitcoin token, cbBTC, which has led to questions about possible competitive reasons behind this decision.
