Investors in Bitcoin SV (BSV) are appealing to the UK Court of Appeal to reinstate a critical component of their $13.3 billion lawsuit against Binance, arguing that the crypto exchange’s 2019 delisting of BSV permanently derailed the token’s value trajectory.
The investors are seeking to revive their “loss of chance” claim, which was previously dismissed by the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal in July 2024. The claim contends that Binance’s decision to delist BSV directly obstructed its opportunity to evolve into a top-tier cryptocurrency—comparable in value to Bitcoin at the time the lawsuit was filed in mid-2022.
This claim is central to the financial scale of the case. If reinstated, it could allow plaintiffs to pursue the maximum potential damages—based on what BSV might have been worth had it followed a growth path similar to Bitcoin.
At a hearing on Thursday, the investors’ legal team argued that the delisting resulted in a “permanent ongoing loss of value” and should be assessed at trial rather than struck out prematurely.
“Because of the delisting, there has been damage which continues to this day,” said John Wardell KC.
“If it hadn’t been for the delisting, BSV would be a first-tier currency like Bitcoin.”
BSV Investors Challenge Binance’s Market Mitigation Defense
BSV investors are also contesting a key legal defense raised by Binance, asserting that the “market mitigation rule” should not apply in their $13.3 billion claim over the 2019 delisting.
In July 2024, the Competition Appeal Tribunal declined to dismiss the case outright but accepted Binance’s argument that most BSV holders had a reasonable chance to respond to the delisting by reallocating their assets. The decision leaned on the market mitigation rule, which typically limits damages when investors could have reasonably protected themselves from losses.
At the time, the Tribunal noted that evidence showing investors were caught off guard was “scant and high-level.”
But in this week’s appeal, attorneys for the investors argued that the rule was misapplied—emphasizing that affected holders lacked both the financial capacity and practical means to mitigate their losses.
“There is no duty to mitigate if your damaged asset cannot generate sufficient funds,” said Wardell, adding that Binance should not benefit from assumptions about liquidity and investor behavior that don’t hold up under scrutiny.
UK’s First Crypto Class Action Targets Binance, Kraken, Others
The lawsuit against Binance over its BSV delisting is part of a broader class action also targeting Kraken, ShapeShift, and Bittylicious—exchanges that removed BSV from their platforms between April and June 2019.
The case is led by BSV Claims Limited, a litigation vehicle created specifically for this legal action. It is chaired by Lord Currie of Marylebone, the former head of UK regulators Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority—signaling the case’s prominence.
Filed on behalf of approximately 243,000 UK-based BSV holders who owned the token between April 2019 and July 2022, the lawsuit marks the country’s first crypto-focused collective action grounded in competition law. The plaintiffs argue that the coordinated delistings constituted an anti-competitive conspiracy, causing long-term financial harm and artificially suppressing the token’s market performance.
Quick Facts
- BSV investors are appealing to reinstate a $13.3 billion “loss of chance” claim against Binance.
- Plaintiffs allege the 2019 delisting blocked BSV’s potential to match Bitcoin’s growth.
- The lawsuit also names Kraken, ShapeShift, and Bittylicious as co-defendants.
- It represents the UK’s first collective action case in crypto based on competition law.
