Trial Begins: Bitcoin Exchange Accused of Wrongfully Reversing Trades

The trial over alleged wrongful reversals of seven bitcoin trades that occurred last year has reportedly begun in Singapore. Cryptocurrency exchange Quoine has been sued by a market maker. The plaintiff is seeking to recover 3,085 BTC from the exchange.

Plaintiff Seeks 3,085 BTC

Singapore’s International Commercial Court is expected to decide whether seven BTC-ETH trades conducted by B2c2 were wrongfully reversed by Quoine, leading to proceeds being deducted from the plaintiff’s account without authorization, the Straits Times reported.

According to B2c2’s lawyer, Quoine abused its role as the trading platform operator and acted in breach of trust as the custodian. The plaintiff’s opening statement alleges:

B2c2 continued to explain that Quoine’s action ensured the exchange would not have to seek payment from its customers and would be at no risk of non-payment.

Quoine explained that it was “unable to access external market price data” for BTC and ETH at the time of the disputed trades because it suffered a glitch in its program. “Due to the glitch, the program stopped creating or placing new orders involving these currencies on the platform, causing issues with liquidity and therefore, problems with the orders made by B2c2,” the news outlet noted.

The Disputed Trades

The market maker paid 309.2518 ETH and received 3092.517116 BTC, the Straits Times detailed. However, Quoine reversed the trades the following day and deducted 3084.78582325 BTC from the plaintiff’s account without authorization.

The publication elaborated:

Quoine’s lawyer Paul Ong pointed out that other exchanges which B2c2 trades on “have clauses allowing them to cancel orders that were accepted if they were found to be ‘erroneous’ or constitute ‘market abuse.'” Without disputing the claim, Boonen maintained his company would not have agreed to these conditions with Quoine.

The defendant argued:

The publication added that the “trial is expected to conclude next week, with Quoine chief technology officer Mario Antonio Gomez Lozada expected to take the stand.”