The U.S. Court of Appeals reopens the HEX manipulation case against Binance.US

According to ChainCatcher, as reported by Cointelegraph, a U.S. appeals court partially overturned the dismissal of a class action lawsuit against Binance.US, which alleges that the exchange illegally manipulated the price of the HEX token. A panel of three judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the district court's previous dismissal of the class action, stating that plaintiff Ryan Cox's claims against Binance.US and CoinMarketCap were reasonable.

Cox first filed the class action in 2021, accusing Binance Capital Management and Binance.US of artificially limiting HEX's ranking on CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency price tracking platform owned by Binance. Cox claimed this led to a lower trading price for HEX, while Binance's own cryptocurrency ranked higher. In February 2023, a district court judge initially dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Cox failed to establish any specific connection between activities in Arizona (the state where Cox originally filed the lawsuit) and Binance.US that could link Binance.US to the manipulation of HEX.

In an opinion on August 12, the judges disagreed with the district court's initial conclusion that Cox must prove there was "sufficient minimum contacts" between Binance.US and Arizona for the court to establish personal jurisdiction.

Additionally, the appeals court found that Cox's lawsuit presented reasonable allegations of price manipulation against Binance.US and noted that they have been sent back for reconsideration.