Core Foundation has secured an injunction from the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands that temporarily blocks Maple Finance from launching a rival bitcoin yield product and limits Maple’s ability to interact with Core’s native token while the two sides enter arbitration.
The decision, announced Wednesday, stems from an early 2025 partnership between the two organizations to develop lstBTC, a product built to let investors earn yield on their bitcoin without giving up custody. The collaboration was unveiled in February during an event in Hong Kong, and Core says it committed significant capital, technical work, and marketing resources to bring the product to market. According to the foundation, lstBTC’s April launch helped drive strong growth for Maple.
— Core DAO 🔶 (@Coredao_Org) November 19, 2025
Core now alleges that Maple misused confidential materials and work produced under the partnership to build a competing product called syrupBTC. Core claims this occurred while Maple was still receiving funding and support from the foundation, violating a 24 month exclusivity clause written into their agreement.
Maple pushed back on the allegations in a post on X, saying Core’s legal moves run counter to the interests of lenders on the platform. The company added that its core business continues to operate normally and said it intends to pursue all available remedies as the dispute unfolds.
Maple Finance stands firmly in defense of lender rights and confirms there is no impact to our broader business operations as a result of the recent Core Foundation statement. The dispute is strictly limited to the pilot program conducted in partnership with Core Foundation for…
— Maple (@maplefinance) November 19, 2025
Court Cites Serious Questions Over Exclusivity and Information Use
Justice Jalil Asif KC, presiding over the case, found that there is a serious issue to examine regarding Maple’s use of confidential information and the potential breach of exclusivity. The court also concluded that financial damages alone would not be enough to address the situation, pointing to the risk of Maple dealing in CORE tokens and the advantage the firm could gain if allowed to launch a competing product before arbitration concludes.
Core further accused Maple of exposing lenders to unnecessary risk after the platform declared impairments on millions of dollars of deposited bitcoin. The foundation said these impairments were announced after it halted certain price protection payments tied to the alleged contract breaches. Core added that it remains unclear why Maple says it cannot return the affected bitcoin to lenders.
With both companies preparing for arbitration, the injunction sets the stage for a broader dispute over intellectual property, product rights, and the boundaries of crypto industry partnerships. The outcome could offer a new reference point for how courts handle competitive conflicts in fast moving digital asset markets.
