Swan Bitcoin drops federal lawsuit against Proton after UK court concession kills its core claims. 2026-06-01 12:32:10 A federal judge dismissed Swan Bitcoin's entire lawsuit against Proton Management Ltd. and its employees on June 1, 2026, after Swan admitted in parallel UK proceedings that it never owned the mining assets and trade secrets at the center of its claims. * Key Takeaways: * * A federal judge dismissed Swan Bitcoin's entire lawsuit against Proton Management on June 1, 2026, ending 18 months of litigation. * * Swan admitted in UK proceedings that it never owned the mining trade secrets it claimed, permanently barring it from refiling those claims. * * Proton, represented by Bergeson LLP and Goodwin, said it remains focused on mining operations after the full dismissal. Case collapses on its own premise. Swan filed the original suit in California federal court after several executives and consultants left the company amid what court filings describe as significant operational and financial strain. Swan alleged misappropriation of proprietary assets tied to its bitcoin mining operations. Proton denied the claims from the start. Defense attorneys argued that Swan never operated an independent mining business of its own. The operations in question, they said, were connected to a separate Tether-funded entity commonly referenced as 2040 Energy, not Swan itself. That argument held. In related UK litigation, Swan conceded it does not own any of the alleged proprietary assets, documents, or trade secrets that formed the basis of the California case. Attorneys call it a clear vindication. Adam Trigg, partner at Bergeson LLP, said the outcome confirmed what his team argued from the beginning. "Swan was forced to admit this crucial fact and dismiss its own case," Trigg said. Amanda Russo, partner at Goodwin, called the dismissal a significant victory. "Swan's case has finally been dismissed from a forum it never belonged in the first place," she said. Matthew Kanny, also a partner at Goodwin, noted the defense had already defeated Swan's requests for a temporary restraining order and expedited discovery before the full dismissal came through. Permanent bar on refiling. Proton stated that Swan is now permanently prohibited from pursuing these specific trade secrets claims in any venue, based on the concessions made in the UK proceedings. The company disclosed that it expects any future claims Swan might attempt to file to reach the same outcome. Swan has not publicly issued a statement on the dismissal. Proton said it has addressed these matters through the courts and remains focused on its mining operations and growth strategy. 18 months of litigation. The lawsuit has been active since late 2024. Proton characterized the suit as retaliatory, filed after its personnel departed Swan during a period of internal financial difficulty. The California federal court dismissal on June 1 closes that chapter. The case drew attention partly due to the Tether connection, with the underlying mining operations linked to a Tether-funded structure rather than Swan's own balance sheet. That detail proved decisive. For bitcoin miners, operators, and investors tracking corporate disputes in the space, the outcome signals that trade secrets claims without clear ownership documentation face real structural risk in federal court. Disclaimer: The information on this page may come from third-party sources and is for reference only. It does not represent the views or opinions of Gate and does not constitute any financial, investment, or legal advice. Virtual asset trading involves high risk. Please do not rely solely on the information on this page when making decisions. For details, see the Disclaimer.

Swan CEO: retail investors drive Bitcoin demand despite ETF boom, cuts 2026 ATH odds to 20-25%. 2026-05-31 23:21:54 According to Cory Klippsten, chief executive of Swan Bitcoin, speaking at Bitcoin Vegas 2026, retail investors remain the primary source of underlying Bitcoin demand even as institutional spot ETFs absorb headline flows. Klippsten emphasized that ETF buyers ultimately represent individual accounts acquiring real BTC exposure through institutional wrappers, rather than institutional ownership of Bitcoin directly. US spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded $2.9 billion in net outflows since May 15, per Farside Investors data. Bitcoin has declined approximately 9.5% over the same period, trading near $73,630 at publication. Klippsten also revised his probability of Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high in 2026 to 20% to 25%, down from roughly 50% when the asset traded near $95,000 earlier in the year. Disclaimer: The information on this page may come from third-party sources and is for reference only. It does not represent the views or opinions of Gate and does not constitute any financial, investment, or legal advice. Virtual asset trading involves high risk. Please do not rely solely on the information on this page when making decisions. For details, see the Disclaimer. In-Depth Analysis

Swan Bitcoin hit with nearly $1B lawsuit over Prime Trust withdrawals. Swan Bitcoin is facing a lawsuit of nearly $1 billion, with Prime Trust's post-bankruptcy litigation trust accusing the Bitcoin services company of using insider knowledge to pull out a massive cache of assets from the troubled custodian just days before its collapse in 2023. The complaint, filed in Delaware bankruptcy court, names Electric Solidus, the corporate entity behind Swan, as the defendant. It alleges the company received over $24.6 million in cash, 11,994 Bitcoin (BTC) now worth approximately $923 million, around 5 million USDT, and smaller amounts of other digital assets, all withdrawn in the critical window before Prime Trust filed for bankruptcy in August 2023. The insider at the centre of it all At the heart of the allegations is an unnamed Prime Trust senior executive who, the lawsuit claims, was simultaneously serving as a paid advisor to Swan through a side arrangement that dated back to July 2019, while still employed at the custodian. According to the complaint, four days before Prime Trust was scheduled to meet with Nevada regulators on May 26, 2023, this executive opened an encrypted messaging channel with Swan CEO Cory Klippsten and set all messages to auto-delete every 24 hours. The auto-delete feature was turned off the day after the regulatory meeting, by which point Swan had already withdrawn more than 10,000 Bitcoin from Prime Trust. "Swan knew to transfer fiat and crypto from Prime immediately prior to Prime filing for bankruptcy to avoid catastrophic losses," the complaint stated. A full evacuation, not a partial withdrawal The lawsuit further alleges that what started as a partial asset transfer was abruptly expanded into a full-scale evacuation of all of Swan's funds, one day before the Nevada regulatory meeting took place. Prime Trust staff were reportedly scrambling to process the transfer before the close of business that same day, based on internal Slack communications cited in the filing. Adding to the allegations, the complaint claims Prime Trust created an internal ledger entry labelled "PT FBO Swan Customers" on May 25, an account that did not exist prior to that date, in what the plaintiff describes as an attempt to make it appear Swan's funds had always been held in a separate trust. This, the suit argues, would have made those assets harder to recover in bankruptcy proceedings. "In substance, however, those assets had not been and were not held in trust for the benefit of Swan's customers," the complaint states. What the lawsuit is seeking The Prime Trust litigation trust is pursuing recovery under preferential transfer and fraudulent transfer provisions of the US Bankruptcy Code. It is also asking the Delaware court to disallow any future claims Swan might attempt to assert against the Prime Trust estate until full restitution has been made, effectively blocking Swan from recovering anything further until it has returned what is alleged to have been improperly withdrawn. Swan had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publishing. Background: Prime Trust's collapse Prime Trust was once one of the more prominent crypto custodians in the US, providing backend infrastructure for dozens of crypto platforms. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2023 after Nevada regulators intervened over concerns about its financial condition, including an inability to meet customer withdrawal obligations. The current lawsuit is part of a wider effort by the post-bankruptcy litigation trust to claw back assets that were transferred out of Prime Trust in the weeks leading up to its collapse, with Swan's alleged withdrawal representing the largest and most contentious of those transfers by a significant margin.