Core and Maple bury the hatchet, syrupBTC clears for launch

@Coredao_Org and @maplefinance announced a full and final settlement on May 22, ending both the arbitration that began in September 2025 and a parallel court case in the Cayman Islands. Terms of the agreement were kept confidential and neither party made any admission of liability.

The resolution clears the path for Maple to ship syrupBTC, its Bitcoin yield product, which had been legally blocked since October 2025. It also allows Core to refocus on its own Bitcoin product roadmap.

How the dispute began

The dispute stemmed from a partnership formed in early 2025 to create lstBTC, a product that enabled Bitcoin holders to earn yield while maintaining their assets with institutional custodians like BitGo. Core Foundation alleged 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.

At the time the partnership launched, Maple Finance managed under $500 million in assets. The initial success of the Bitcoin Yield offering from April 2025 onward helped to kick-start explosive growth for Maple, and that early traction appears to have been the catalyst for Maple to pivot toward a competing product.

According to Core, the dispute escalated further when Maple said it would need to declare impairments on over $150 million worth of Bitcoin deposited in the lstBTC pilot. This, the DAO claimed, ran against assurances Maple had provided that all Bitcoin would be held in ring-fenced, bankruptcy-protected custody structures.

Court blocked syrupBTC, now settlement frees it

The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands granted an injunction against Maple completing its own liquid-staking token, syrupBTC, or dealing in CORE tokens pending arbitration. The foundation claimed Maple breached its exclusivity obligations and misappropriated Core's intellectual property and confidential information to develop its own product while amassing $150 million in client assets through the lstBTC partnership.

On September 26, 2025, Justice Jalil Asif KC ruled that there was a serious issue regarding Maple's alleged breach of exclusivity and misuse of confidential information. The court determined that monetary damages would be inadequate, given the risk that Maple would dispose of CORE tokens and the irreversible head-start advantage a competing product launch would provide.

With the settlement now in place, both sides can move forward. Maple gains the freedom to launch syrupBTC commercially, while Core can direct its energy toward new $BTC product development without the distraction of ongoing litigation.

Sources:
CoinDesk: Core Foundation Wins Injunction Against Maple Finance
CCN: Core vs Maple Finance Dispute
Protos: Core Slaps Maple With Injunction Over syrupBTC