Core Foundation wins injunction against Maple Finance in Cayman Islands court

The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has issued an injunction against Maple Finance entities for allegedly breaching a commercial agreement with Core Foundation on the development of lstBTC, a Core-powered liquid staked Bitcoin token.

According to a copy of the ruling delivered by the Honourable Justice Jalil Asif KC, published on October 30, Core Foundation raised legal queries about Maple’s supposed misuse of confidential information and potential violation of a 24-month exclusivity clause.

Core Foundation and Maple Finance formed a partnership in February to create lstBTC, a product that allows investors to earn a yield on Bitcoin while keeping their assets in the custody of licensed firms, such as BitGo, Copper, and Hex Trust. 

The collaboration was announced at the Consensus Hong Kong event, where the foundation claims it made “significant financial and technical investments” in Maple’s development, marketing, promotion, and subsidies.

Maple Finance held under $500 million AUM pre-partnership

At the time the partnership began, Maple Finance entities reportedly managed under $500 million in assets. Initial revenues and the early success of the Bitcoin Yield offering, which became lstBTC in April, contributed to over $150 million worth of BTC purchases via an early over-the-counter version of the yield product.

Core Foundation said all Bitcoin provided to Maple was held in fully bankruptcy-remote, segregated portfolios, ring-fenced from other liabilities or exposures to protect lenders from losses due to Maple’s other business activities. 

“We went to great lengths during the initial contracting process with Maple to ensure that Bitcoin lenders would not face adverse consequences due to the actions of Maple,” the foundation wrote in its statement on X Wednesday.

Moreover, the organization propounded that IstBTC had price protections via put options to hedge against CORE token volatility, and it was actively participating in these risk management measures.

During the end of H1 2025, Core Foundation alleges that Maple Finance began using confidential information and resources from the lstBTC partnership to develop syrupBTC, a competing product. 

According to its members, syrupBTC’s development breached the exclusivity clause and continued to leverage Core Foundation’s investments while pursuing a rival offering.

The injunction now bars Maple from launching syrupBTC or conducting transactions using CORE tokens without written consent from Core Foundation pending arbitration. The court determined that damages alone would not be sufficient to address the risk of Maple dealing in CORE tokens or gaining a head start with a competing product.

“We honored every put expiry for months, paying out millions of dollars, until Maple’s alleged material breaches, as we considered we were directly subsidizing a competitive product. At that point, we obtained an injunction and issued notices of termination of the underlying agreements,” Core Foundation noted.

Maple and Core Bitcoin holdings in question

Maple Finance indicated that it may need to declare an impairment to the value of millions of dollars against Bitcoin lenders in the Bitcoin Yield offering. Yet, Core Foundation believes Maple’s claims that it cannot return the Bitcoin to lenders are unfounded, given the funds were held in reputable custodians.

The foundation’s attorneys told the Cayman Island courts that Maple’s “impairment” shows how unplumbed its troubling business practices really are. 

“We had understood that the Bitcoin was held with reputable custodians. This is another example of concerning behavior and business practices by Maple, which led to Core Foundation taking action in the best interest of its community,” it continued.

In the belief that Maple is redirecting Core’s resources toward syrupBTC, the foundation is trying to stop investors from being “indirectly subsidized to support a rival product.” 

Court ruling cites arbitration requirements

In his ruling, Judge Jalil Asif KC said he was satisfied the injunction supports intended arbitration proceedings, which are to be held within the Cayman Islands. The court reiterated that the arbitration must commence within 28 days of the injunction order. 

According to the Cayman Island Honorable Justice, it is likely that arbitration requests will be served on Maple Finance at the same time as the injunction to comply with the timeline.

“I accept what is said in the Plaintiff’s skeleton argument that that provides the necessary jurisdictional hook for me to exercise my power to grant this injunction,” the judge wrote.

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