Christopher Cooke Successful in Appeal in Cryptocurrency Case

On behalf of client Newstyle Capital Management Limited (“Newstyle”), Christopher Cooke and Murphy Cooke LLP successfully defeated an appeal concerning arbitration in a case involving a cryptocurrency investment. In the original lawsuit filed in Alameda Superior Court, Murphy Cooke’s client, Newstyle alleged violations of the federal securities laws by defendant Mobile Gaming Technologies, Inc., and three of its officers, in connection with an “initial coin offering” of a cryptocurrency by a Mobile Gaming Technologies’ subsidiary, CashBet Alderney Limited. The trial court denied the defendants’ motion to compel arbitration, agreeing with Newstyle that it had not agreed to arbitration with Mobile Gaming Technologies or its officers when Newstyle purchased the cryptocurrency called the CashBet Coin. The defendants’ appealed the trial court’s denial of their motion to compel arbitration, contending that an arbitration clause in the token purchase agreement with CashBet obligated Newstyle to submit its dispute with them to binding arbitration in Alderney, an island off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Guernsey, the Channel Islands, under theories of equitable estoppel and agency. The Court of Appeals rejected each of the defendant’s contentions, affirmed the trial court’s order denying arbitration, and returned the case to the Superior Court for further proceedings. The Court of Appeal’s decision can be found here: https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5615519059297937764&q=Mobile+Gaming+Technology+v.+Newstyle&hl=en&as_sdt=2006&as_vis=1