The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has granted an injunction against Maple Finance over alleged breaches of its commercial partnership with Core Foundation to develop lstBTC, a liquid staked Bitcoin token launched earlier this year that helped Maple secure over $150 million in client assets.
The court ruling prohibits Maple from launching its competing product, syrupBTC, and from dealing in CORE tokens pending arbitration, while finding serious merit in Core’s claims of misuse of confidential information and exclusivity violations.
The dispute stems from a partnership formed in early 2025 to create lstBTC, a product that enables Bitcoin holders to earn yield while maintaining their assets with institutional custodians like BitGo.
Core Foundation alleges that by mid-2025, Maple began secretly developing syrupBTC, a rival offering that violated their 24-month exclusivity agreement, while continuing to accept Core’s capital, resources, and confidential information.
Core Foundation and Maple Finance announced their lstBTC partnership at Consensus Hong Kong in February 2025, targeting Bitcoin investors seeking yield without sacrificing custody security.
Core invested substantially in technical development, marketing, and subsidies, while Maple launched with under $500 million in assets.
The Bitcoin Yield offering’s April 2025 launch catalyzed explosive growth for Maple, securing over $150 million in Bitcoin through an early over-the-counter version of lstBTC.
That early traction demonstrated strong product-market fit for a Core-powered Bitcoin yield product, which Core claims became the catalyst for Maple’s alleged pivot to competing infrastructure.
Core alleges that by mid-2025, Maple began misusing confidential information and work product while continuing to accept resources to develop syrupBTC, a rival offering that violated their 24-month exclusivity agreement.
On September 26, 2025, Justice Jalil Asif KC ruled that there is a serious issue regarding Maple’s alleged breach of exclusivity and misuse of confidential information, with the judgment published on October 30, 2025.
The court determined that monetary damages would be inadequate due to the risk that Maple would dispose of CORE tokens and the irreversible head-start advantage a competing product launch would provide.
The injunction prohibits Maple from using Core’s confidential information, launching syrupBTC or similar products, and dealing in CORE tokens without written consent.