May 16, 2026

Capitalizations Index – B ∞/21M

Market Maker Sues Lawyer Over $4 Million BTC Transaction Gone Awry

Market maker sues lawyer over $4 million btc transaction gone awry

Market Maker Sues Lawyer Over $4 Million BTC Transaction Gone Awry

Market maker sues lawyer over $4 million btc transaction gone awry

Market making and over-the-counter trading firm GSR Markets is taking legal action against lawyer Diana McDonald, who is accused of pocketing $2 million from a $4 million BTC transaction in which she acted as an escrow.

Also Read: In the Daily: Bitcoin Begging, NEM Foundation Fights to Survive, Huobi Prime

GSR Markets Sues Lawyer Over Missing $2 Million

Hong Kong-based GSR Markets is taking legal action against a lawyer who was to act as an escrow in a $4 million BTC escrow transaction gone awry. According to the plaintiffs, GSR sent BTC to them in exchange for $4 million that was sent to the trust account of a lawyer designated to act as an escrow, only to have $2 million returned to them and receive no cryptocurrency.

GSR asserts: “Valkyrie [one of the defendants] promised that it would provide Bitcoin to GSR Markets ]in exchange for $4 million. In reliance on that promise, GSR Markets wired $4 million” to the defendant.

GSR claims to have been acting as a broker for Alivia Corporation in seeking to carry out the transactions, alleging that on January 3, 2019, the “Plaintiff wired $4,000,000 into the account, expecting that it would immediately receive 1,000 [BTC] from the sellers. Based on that expectation, GSR Markets shorted those 1,000 [BTC], based on a purchase price of $3,635 per [BTC].”

Lawyer Claims No Wrongdoing

In addition to claiming that it failed to receive any BTC and is currently owed $2 million, GSR asserts that it lost approximately $380,000 in the process of unwinding its short position.

The plaintiff is asking for injunctive relief, and accuses McDonald and McDonald Law of breaching fiduciary duty and fraud. GSR is also suing Wells Fargo, the bank providing the account into which the funds were deposited, for “aiding and abetting fraud.”

McDonald has responded to the accusation, claiming that she has not acted improperly and that her fiduciary duty ran only to the seller and not the buyer in the transaction. McDonald asserted that a portion of the funds was used to “unlock” a BTC wallet and that the plaintiff “confirmed delivery of 2,000 ‘non-spendable’ [BTC].”

What is your response to the suit between GSR Markets and McDonald? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!


Images courtesy of Shutterstock


At bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more.

Tags in this story
$, 4, Awry, BTC, Gone, lawyer, Maker, market, million, N-Featured, Sues, Transaction
Samuel Haig

Samuel Haig is a journalist who has been completely obsessed with bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012. Samuel lives in Tasmania, Australia, where he attended the University of Tasmania and majored in Political Science, and Journalism, Media & Communications. Samuel has written about the dialectics of decentralization, and is also a musician and kangaroo riding enthusiast.

Published at Sat, 09 Mar 2019 21:39:08 +0000

Previous Article

Analysts Widely Bearish on Bitcoin as BTC Nears Important 4,000 Price Level

Next Article

Market Maker Sues Lawyer Over $4 Million BTC Transaction Gone Awry

You might be interested in …

Daily Market Report for April 09 2018

Kraken Blog Daily Market Report for April 09 2018 April 09 2018 KRAKEN DIGITAL ASSET EXCHANGE $209M traded across all markets today Crypto, EUR, USD, JPY, CAD, GBP  BTC $6,679 ↓4.17% $115M ETH $395.1 ↓0.59% $68.7M XRP $0.4791 ↓2.98% $9.75M LTC $113.58 ↓3.42% $4.61M BCH $630.15 ↓3.39% $1.94M ETC $13.37 ↓5.51% $1.68M EOS $5.79 ↓2.85% $1.56M XMR $163.52 ↓4.75% $1.43M XLM $0.1941 ↓4.94% $1.05M DASH $293.9 ↓5.41% $884,797 USDT $1.00 →0.00% $778,159 ZEC $175.3 ↓3.47% $587,231 ICN $0.863 ↑1.24% $557,246 REP $24.19 ↓2.89% $176,368 GNO $58.6 ↓2.42% $67,280 DOGE $0.0027 ↓2.14% $23,358 Visit the About section on our […]

海医链Beta 版本英文版本面世 English beta version of the XMEDChain is now available!

Blockchain on Medium 海医链Beta 版本英文版本面世 English beta version of the XMEDChain is now available! 感谢大家的期待与支持!9月14日,海医链beta版顺利完成开发并成功上线,在上线后的这段时间里,通过团队的不懈努力,海医链产品的英文版也于今天正式发布了!产品应用域名为:xmedchain.com。 Continue reading on Medium » more info… Ethereum World News bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis: Which Way Will It Break? bitcoin […]