Maker Wins Motion To Compel Individual Arbitration

On behalf of Maker Ecosystem Growth Foundation and Maker Ecosystem Growth Holdings, Inc., Skadden won a motion to compel arbitration in a putative class action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiff is a purported user of the MakerDAO system, a decentralized finance platform operating on the Ethereum blockchain, who alleged that he and others suffered losses on the system when the price of Ether suddenly collapsed on March 12, 2020. Maker moved to compel arbitration based on the fact that the plaintiff agreed to the terms of service, which contain a provision requiring him to arbitrate claims on an individual basis, when he became a user. Judge Maxine M. Chesney granted Maker’s motion, holding that questions regarding the arbitrability of the plaintiff’s claims must be decided in arbitration and rejecting the plaintiff’s argument that he should not be bound by the terms of service because he was supposedly unsophisticated.