🌎 Supreme Court Rules Against Coinbase in 2021 Dogecoin Sweepstakes Case

Crypto exchange Coinbase has lost a Supreme Court case regarding its 2021 Dogecoin sweepstakes.

Background of the Case

In Coinbase, Inc. v. Suski, Coinbase users claimed they were misled into spending $100 or more to enter a sweepstakes in June 2021, with a chance to win prizes up to $1.2 million in Dogecoin (DOGE).

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against Coinbase, indicating that a court, not an arbitrator, should determine where the dispute belongs.

Case Details

The court case revolves around David Suski and others who entered the Coinbase sweepstakes in 2021. They accused the exchange and the sweepstakes management company of misleading app users into paying $100 in Dogecoin to participate.

Coinbase attempted to leverage a clause in their user agreement to compel arbitration. However, the district court, later confirmed by the Ninth Circuit, interpreted the contractual documents to include the sweepstakes agreement.

Supreme Court Ruling

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stated that a court, not an arbitrator, should decide the appropriate jurisdiction for the dispute. She emphasized that in cases involving conflicting contracts, “a court needs to decide what the parties have agreed to.”

Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, responded to the ruling, saying, “What a week. Some you win. Some you lose. We are grateful for having had the opportunity to present our case to the Court and appreciate the Court’s consideration of this matter.”

The ruling focused on arbitration rather than significant digital assets.