America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, emerged victorious in a US Supreme Court ruling about an arbitration dispute. The court’s 5-4 majority decision reaffirms the authority of companies to direct customer and employee conflicts into arbitration, thereby allowing Coinbase to pursue arbitration and temporarily halting the progress of the class-action lawsuit in the federal court system. 

The exchange sought the intervention of the US Supreme Court to halt two lawsuits filed by account holders after appealing those cases in Federal court. One of the suits involved a customer seeking compensation of $31,000 for losses incurred after granting a scammer remote access to their account. 

Coinbase initially faced a setback when the US District Court for the Northern District of California rejected its motion to compel arbitration, and an appeal of that ruling was also unsuccessful. 

In writing on behalf of the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh emphasised that the district court must suspend its pre-trial and trial proceedings while the interlocutory appeal is underway. 

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor with partial agreement from Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented from the majority, arguing that allowing the case to proceed would comprehensively consider all relevant interests. Jackson cautioned that the majority’s logic could have significant implications for federal litigation.