China: "Bitcoin Also Considered Legally Protected Property"

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[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] A ruling has been made in China that virtual currency Bitcoin is a legally protected property.

According to Sina Caijing on the 8th, the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court ruled on the 6th in an appeal case regarding a Bitcoin-related damages dispute that "Bitcoin is a cyber virtual asset that should be legally protected" and "All Bitcoins obtained through illegal means must be returned or compensated for."

Although Bitcoin does not have the characteristics of general currency, this ruling clearly recognizes Bitcoin as a cyber virtual asset in China, making it subject to legal protection. In China, the issuance and trading of new virtual currencies, including Bitcoin, are prohibited.

The court's designation of Bitcoin as legally protected property considered the fact that material capital must be invested to obtain Bitcoin, that it is transferable, and that it can generate economic profit. The court stated that Bitcoin possesses the characteristics of value, scarcity, and disposability, and has commodity attributes, thus meeting the requirements of property.

This ruling came after a couple filed a lawsuit to return 18.88 Bitcoins forcibly taken from them in June 2018 at their home in China by four Malaysian nationals with whom they had an economic dispute. The perpetrators argued that Bitcoin is not legally protected property in China and therefore they had no obligation to return it, but both the first and second instance courts ruled in favor of the plaintiff.

The court ruled that the defendant must return all the Bitcoins forcibly taken from the plaintiff, and if they cannot be returned, compensation must be paid based on the Bitcoin price at the time of the incident in June 2018, which was 42,206.75 yuan (approximately 7.24 million KRW) per Bitcoin.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.