Of all the areas blockchain has made headlines in, antitrust has ranked fairly low. To the extent that there have been disputes or regulatory activity, they have so far revolved around the financial aspects of cryptoassets and less so around market distortions, which is antitrust’s domain. But where there is money there is power, and where there is power there is abuse of power, and so it was only a matter of time until an antitrust claim would arise. In December 2018, UnitedCorp, a diversified technology company, sued Bitmain, the largest Bitcoin mining pool, and a number of other high-profile stakeholders in what was the first blockchain dispute with a focus on antitrust (United American Corp. v. Bitmain, Inc. Complaint).

The case is complex, not least because of the technical details and the convoluted alleged anticompetitive scheme. But at its core one finds a familiar collusion claim. Interestingly, the filing attorneys are corporate/financial law experts—not antitrust experts—perhaps indicative of the fact that cases involving blockchain, and in particular Bitcoin, continue to be lumped together under financial regulation.