BiT Global has accused Coinbase of engaging in "predatory or anticompetitive conduct" to monopolize the wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) market. This allegation was made in a legal filing submitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on December 13.
According to the complaint, BiT Global alleges that Coinbase announced plans to delist wBTC from its platform, citing failure to meet listing standards. BiT Global contends that this action is part of Coinbase's strategy to promote its own cbBTC product and monopolize the wrapped Bitcoin market. "By delisting wBTC, Coinbase intended to deny its main competitor access to its user base entirely and exclude them from the market," according to the complaint.
According to WBTC's website, Wrapped Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency token that represents Bitcoin on the Ethereum blockchain. It is an ERC-20 token pegged 1:1 to Bitcoin, meaning each wBTC is backed by an equivalent amount of Bitcoin held in reserve by a custodian.
BiT Global Digital Limited is a regulated digital asset custodian serving clients globally since 2020. In collaboration with BitGo, BiT Global manages wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), a tokenized version of Bitcoin that enables liquidity on decentralized finance platforms like Ethereum, as per their website.
Coinbase Global, Inc., a leading cryptocurrency exchange, launched its own wrapped Bitcoin product, Coinbase Wrapped BTC (cbBTC), on September 12, 2024. cbBTC is an ERC-20 token backed 1:1 by Bitcoin, designed to enhance Bitcoin's utility within decentralized finance ecosystems on Ethereum and Coinbase's Layer-2 network, Base, according to their website.