The latest report reveals that UK High Court implies Bitcoin under the list of property. This comes following the British High Court’s review of the cryptocurrency hacking case of around 100 Bitcoins.
UK High Court Considering Bitcoin as Property
It is the first time that the British High Court recognizes Bitcoin as a property. However, the decision is still a subject to ratification but at present it is under the legal precedent, enabling victims of the hacking incident to get their crypto locked away in crypto trading platforms.
Liam Robertson, the CEO of Alphabit Fund, was the key person in a case. As per the claim of Robertson, he had lost his GBP 1million worth of Bitcoin ( almost 1221615 USD) in a spear-phishing attack in early July. It says that the total stolen fund is 100 Bitcoins wherein 80 Bitcoins were reportedly transferred to a bitcoin wallet held by Coinbase exchange.
The report of 100 Bitcoins was tracked with the help of Chainalysis, the report outlined. Moreover, out of another 20 bitcoins, 15 bitcoins were transferred to LocalBitcoins.com and another 5 to a cold wallet.
The London commercial court finds it as a crucial case to dig deep in and issue an Asset Preservation Order. As per the order, Coinbase will have to temporarily freeze the stolen funds which eventually made Bitcoin as legal property. While this is something that British court seeing Bitcoin for the first time, previously Bitcoin was considered as a data. The official report mentioned;
The case, Liam David Robertson v Persons Unknown, is of great significance as practitioners await the outcome of the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce consultation that is considering, among other related matters, the status of crypto-assets under English private law, in particular, whether they can be considered as ‘property’.
Although, in this case, Court is treating Bitcoin as a property, Robertson’s lawyer argues that the stolen Bitcoin was (is), in fact, his property.
They asserted that Bitcoin isn’t a property as it doesn’t hold a physical possession to it. With this fact, Roberston’s lawyer said it is in intangible in nature, which makes it data or information and outlined that English law doesn’t consider data or information isn’t property.
As for now, Court’s order to freeze the asset and treat Bitcoin as the property is an interim judgment and the Robertson’s lawyers are asserting, whether or not cryptocurrencies considered as a property, it holds great importance, especially for the one who lost it.
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