Altcoin News: The British Court Made a Law-Case on Recognition of Bitcoin as Property

August 23, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

For the first time in history, a British court recognized Bitcoin as property, the Decrypt portal writes.

The decision was made as part of the burglary proceedings, is interim and requires ratification. However, it is unique to the 800-year-old judicial system and can simplify the process of obtaining cryptocurrencies from exchanges as victims of attacks.

Alphabit CEO Liam Robertson said he lost $1 million in Bitcoins last month due to cybercriminals. The London Court of Economic Affairs issued an order to preserve assets, according to which the Coinbase exchange was to temporarily freeze stolen funds.

In British law, Bitcoin is considered “data”, that is, the owners of the cryptocurrency cannot demand its return in case of theft. Robertson’s lawyers, however, were able to describe the situation for the judge from a different perspective. Since the theft of Bitcoins did not constitute a transfer of ownership, Robertson remained the rightful owner of the cryptocurrency.

“If someone finds themselves in a similar position, they’ll be able to refer to this case and say; ‘Judge, we’re not asking you to do something that’s never been done before — see the decision in Robertson v Persons Unknown,” the plaintiff’s lawyers said.

The situation began to develop in early July, when Robertson talked on the phone with the head of the algorithmic foundation and, impressed by the proposed product, agreed to transfer more than 100 Bitcoins to him. According to the plaintiff, an unknown person was listening on the telephone, who, having learned about the plan for transferring Bitcoins, sent him an email on behalf of the fund’s investment director with the address of his cryptocurrency wallet.

By the time the problem became known the next day, 80 Robertson Bitcoins went to the Coinbase wallet, 15 Bitcoins went to the LocalBitcoins platform and 5 Bitcoins went to another wallet.

Robertson said he managed to get his assets with Coinbase on Tuesday. The hacker himself returned the cryptocurrency under the pressure of the ongoing proceedings. Similarly, they intend to try to return the remaining part of the funds, but this can be more difficult since it is located on non-exchange wallets. Otherwise, they will have to identify the owner of the wallet and receive cryptocurrency in accordance with the court decision, going through a long and costly procedure.

“English courts have shown they’re willing to grapple with these new issues,” said Robertson’s lawyer. “It sent the right message: that if you’ve got these kinds of disputes, then the judges in the High Court are really well equipped to deal with it”.

Currently, the court is awaiting the advisory opinion of the working group on the jurisdiction, which should decide whether it is permissible to recognize Bitcoin as property. It is expected that the result will be known before the end of summer.

Previously, information appeared that a court in China recognized Bitcoin as protected by law for “virtual property”.

Author: Marko Vidrih