The Complaint: Digital Assets Company Accuses Competitor of Breach of Contract and Tortious Interference
A digital assets company initiated legal action against a competitor for allegedly attempting to improperly revoke the plaintiff’s options to purchase five billion units of digital currency, a deal potentially valued at over $1.1 billion. This dispute comes after both parties signed a multi-year agreement, stipulating that the plaintiff had options to acquire the defendant’s virtual cash for a percentage of the current value. The plaintiff claims that the defendant unilaterally terminated the option agreement, which had been signed one year earlier and did not permit such termination. Accusing the defendant of breach of contract and tortious interference, the plaintiff is seeking court declarations to enforce its option rights without interference, as well as potential compensatory damages if those options cannot be exercised. In response, the defendant argues that the plaintiff misrepresented its capabilities and failed to fulfill its contractual obligations.
The Ask: A Cryptocurrency Expert with Knowledge of Options Trading
The plaintiff approached DOAR to provide a cryptocurrency testifying expert with a background in options trading. This expert should have a Ph.D., prior experience as an expert witness, and be able to dedicate 200 hours to the case. The crypto expert’s responsibilities will include conducting in-depth research and analysis, providing consultation on relevant issues, drafting a report or declaration, undergoing deposition, and ultimately delivering testimony during trial.
How DOAR Was Able to Meet the Expert Need
In anticipation of an influx of disputes regarding digital assets, DOAR actively recruited a diverse group of world-class academics, industry executives, and former government regulators who are dedicated to supporting our clients in financial technology litigation. For this case, DOAR was able to provide a senior financial technology executive with over 30 years of experience in banking, trading systems, and consulting. This expert also serves as a professor at a top U.S. business school, where he has been teaching courses on Financial Information and Risk Management Systems for 13 years. His extensive experience as an expert witness includes testifying in federal court, SEC hearings, and FINRA arbitrations. He has held senior management roles with banks, securities firms, and exchanges across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and notably, as Senior Vice President and Head of Capital Markets Systems at a multinational financial services corporation, he implemented one of the first fully electronic equity trading systems.
How DOAR’s Experts Can Assist in Financial Technology Disputes
As the technology behind trading platforms becomes more advanced and competition involving fintech companies increases, the complexity and frequency of related litigation are expanding. At DOAR, we focus on industries with significant risk of litigation and have built a financial technology team of testifying experts comprised of world-class academics, industry executives, and former government regulators to support counsel on matters involving complex financial products, currency exchanges, payment systems, digital assets, and trading platforms.
Contact us for more information about how DOAR’s financial technology experts can help inform your litigation strategy and to learn more about our expert teams in other areas of focus within burgeoning areas of technology.
