In a lawsuit between cryptocurrency exchange Bybit and the Singapore Supreme Court, an altcoin was deemed ‘property’. The Singapore Court has seen cryptocurrency as a type of property that can be held in trust.
‘Ownership’ decision came out for this altcoin from ByBit case
Recently, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has required Singaporean exchanges to keep their client assets under a legal guarantee. This step was taken with a decision taken by the Supreme Court to establish the regulatory framework in the country. In recent developments, the court has defined an altcoin as a type of ‘property’ that can be safely owned during the ByBit lawsuit.
In the aforementioned lawsuit, ByBit company filed a lawsuit against former employee Ho Kai Xin. Judge Jeyaretnam announced the final verdict this week. The employee admitted that he transferred about 4.2 million USDT from the exchange to his personal accounts. Ho claimed that the funds in the respective accounts belonged to a distant cousin. However, the court demanded that he return all the money to the exchange.
Such cases are of great importance in determining the legal status of cryptocurrencies. Judge Jeyaretnam made a ruling that cryptocurrencies can be considered property and made the following statement:
Physical manifestations at the digital bits and bytes level are not permanent and may change with each transaction. However, we identify what’s going on as a specific digital token, just like how we name a river even though the water on its shores is constantly changing.
Singapore Supreme Court declares USDT property
In summary, the court ruled in favor of crypto in the case against Ho Kai Xin, who stole 4.2 million USDT from the exchange. Ownership shows that cryptocurrencies have value. The ByBit case and the judge’s statements above show that they can be used as evidence.
Another point emphasized in the decision is that cryptocurrencies cannot be classified as tangible assets. Because they don’t have a physical identity. However, the judge pointed out that altcoins exist in the real world in a way that people cannot perceive. For example, it is possible to release unspent output that is locked to the public address of the owner on the Blockchain using cryptographic keys.
Such court decisions are critical in determining the future use of cryptocurrencies. Putting cryptocurrencies in a legal framework is an important step in keeping the crypto industry and investors safe. Meanwhile, MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) in the country is working on crypto regulations. MAS will ban Digital Payment Token (DPT) service providers to keep customer funds under a legal guarantee and prohibit crypto lending and staking for retail users. It will make continuous updates to keep its regulations policies balanced and appropriate.
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