Investor Sues Bitstamp and Gatehub Over Millions in Missing Coins

Canadian cryptocurrency investor, Salim Satir, has filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchanges, Gatehub and Bitstamp, with the High Court of Justice of England and Wales over $4.9 million in purported losses.

The plaintiff claims that the losses resulted from misleading statements on Gatehub’s website purporting to detail its Bitcoin (BTC) to Ripple (XRP) trading function, in addition to the wrongful retention of 872 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) amid the August 2017 Bitcoin fork.

Investor accidentally purchases ‘Bitcoin IOUs’ from Gatehub

Satir alleges that information provided on Gatehub’s website mislead him as to “the operation and effect of the Bitcoin/Ripple exchange function” on the platform, resulting in $2.5 million in losses.

While Satir believed he was making a spot purchase of BTC for XRP, he instead received “Bitcoin IOUs” that would be held by Bitstamp.

Satir also claims that when he attempted to transfer 872 BTC from his account in December 2017 and January 2018 he was blocked from doing so, accusing Gatehub of hiding a technical fault from its customers.

As a consequence of the delay, each of Satir’s Bitcoin’s value lost $2,992 — resulting in $2.5 million in losses.

Satir claims Gatehub owes him 872 BCH

Satir also alleges that Gatehub failed to deliver 872 Bitcoin Cash that corresponded to his Bitcoin (BTC) holdings on the platform as of the August 2017 Bitcoin hard fork that spawned BCH, accusing the exchange of retaining the coins “for its own benefit.”

The suit seeks an additional $2.4M in damages resulting from Gatehub’s failure to deliver the 872 BCH “of which he was duly entitled,” bringing the total value of the suit to $4.9 million.