NYC court has no right to hear 'international' case argues Bancor firm

The legal team for a crypto firm facing possible securities law violations is asking for the case to be dismissed on geographical grounds.

According to court records filed Oct. 13 in the U.S. Southern District of New York, lawyers for blockchain firm BProtocol Foundation argued that a court outside the U.S. would be more suited to oversee the case due to the "International" nature of the complaint.

The BProtocol Foundation legal team said the complaint was "Based on a man in Wisconsin using an exchange in Singapore to purchase tokens issued by a Swiss entity," which was not appropriate to try in New York.

"The Southern District of New York is convenient only for Plaintiff's counsel - not for any of the parties or any of the would-be witnesses," the legal team for BProtocol Foundation asserted.

BProtocol is the parent company of decentralized liquidity network Bancor.

The blockchain firm also has offices there, and in Switzerland.

BProtocol Foundation is one of seven crypto companies facing court in New York following a series of lawsuits filed in April.

The lawsuits allege that the exchanges sold unlicensed securities without broker-dealer licensing and engaged in market manipulation in addition to a number of them selectively withholding information from investors regarding the sale of their tokens as securities.

In BProtocol Foundation's case, Holsworth alleges the blockchain firm violated U.S. securities laws with the sale of its Bancor Network Token.

"No part of the Securities Act applies because BNT are not securities."