Class action lawsuit

The cryptocurrency custody company Bakkt is facing a class action lawsuit for alleged "false statements and failure to disclose key information."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, investors in Bakkt Holdings have filed a class action lawsuit against the company and its executives, accusing them of making false or misleading statements and failing to adequately disclose important information related to major clients Webull and Bank of America (BoA), allegedly violating U.S. securities laws.The group of investors claims in the lawsuit that losing Bank of America and Webull would result in a "73% loss in revenue." The documents state that for most of 2023 and 2024, Webull accounted for 74% of Bakkt's crypto services revenue, while Bank of America accounted for 17% of its loyalty services revenue from January to September 2024.On March 17, 2025, Bakkt disclosed that Bank of America and Webull had no intention of renewing the agreement set to expire in 2025, causing the company's stock price to drop more than 27% within the following 24 hours. Investors accuse Bakkt of "misrepresenting the stability and/or diversity of its crypto services revenue" and failing to disclose that this revenue "largely depended on" contracts with Webull. The lawsuit states: "As a result of the defendants' wrongful conduct and inaction, along with the sharp decline in the company's market value, the plaintiffs and other class members suffered significant losses and damages."

A U.S. district judge partially denied Coinbase's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing the shareholder class action to proceed

ChainCatcher news, according to Coindesk, U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti in New Jersey ruled on the Coinbase shareholder class action lawsuit, partially rejecting Coinbase's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The lawsuit stems from 2022, where shareholders accused Coinbase of misleading disclosures regarding regulatory risks.The judge found that the plaintiffs made credible allegations regarding Coinbase's behavior when describing the likelihood of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) taking enforcement action. Judge Martinotti noted in the ruling document: "The plaintiffs adequately demonstrated that the defendant misleadingly described the low probability of the SEC filing an enforcement action, repeatedly emphasizing that its listed crypto assets are not securities." The SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023 for violating federal securities laws, and the case is still ongoing. In the SEC lawsuit, the judge similarly dismissed most of Coinbase's motion to dismiss, indicating that the SEC's allegations have sufficient legal grounds for further proceedings.Although the court supported some of the shareholders' claims regarding regulatory risk disclosures, it dismissed most of the other allegations in the lawsuit. A Coinbase spokesperson responded: "The court agreed to dismiss most of the plaintiffs' claims. The remaining parts are allowed to proceed mainly due to the procedural nature of the motion to dismiss. We are confident that we will stand firm on both factual and legal grounds and look forward to proving this in the subsequent litigation."

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.

The Lido community has initiated a proposal to "hire legal counsel to attend the Lido DAO class action lawsuit."

ChainCatcher news, according to the Snapshot governance page, the Lido community has initiated a proposal vote titled "Designated Entity Response to Pending Class Action Against Lido DAO."The proposal states that a private plaintiff has filed a class action lawsuit numbered 3:23-cv-06492 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, naming "LIDO DAO, a general partnership" as the defendant. The complaint alleges that Lido DAO operates as a "general partnership conducting Ethereum staking business," and that the LDO token or LDO token transactions are alleged to be securities or securities transactions, with Lido DAO accused of violating securities laws by offering or selling these securities to the public.On June 27, the court ruled that the plaintiff's delivery of legal documents to Lido DAO through various publicly released means was lawful, and ordered Lido DAO to respond within 14 days, or face a default judgment on the claims made by the plaintiff.Therefore, this proposal, while not acknowledging and explicitly disagreeing that Lido DAO is a partnership, association, or other legally recognizable group or entity, proposes to appoint and fund a Delaware limited liability company, Dolphin CL, LLC ("Dolphin"), to hire legal counsel (currently expected to be Brown Rudnick, led by partner Stephen Palley). The requested funding amount is 200,000 DAI, which is expected to be sufficient to cover the service fees of Dolphin and its legal counsel to draft, submit, and argue in support of a motion to dismiss the claims involving Lido DAO.The proposal will close for voting on July 10, with a current approval rate of 100%.
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