Bomb! China considers Bitcoin legal and classifies it as property, by court decision

Bomb! China considers Bitcoin legal and classifies it as property, by court decision

The Shenzhen International Court of Arbitration recently issued a ruling saying there is no ban on ownership and transfer of Bitcoin in China. The ruling means that, despite the ban on ICOs and the marketing of crypto-coins, Bitcoin and other crypto-coins are legally considered property in the country.

Bitcoin is protected by Law
The court rendered the ruling in a case filed with a dispute over a contract involving the transfer of crypto-coins. According to the details of the case, the plaintiff and the defendant entered into an agreement where the latter individual managed a portfolio of criptomoedas on behalf of the former.

Prohibition of ICOs should not disrupt payments in Bitcoin
In response, the court blamed the defendant's argument that the September ban did not cover the private transfer of Bitcoin and other criptomoedas. In addition, the arbitrator opined that the defendant did not need external platforms to return assets in virtual currency, as long as both parties had portfolios and private keys.

In fulfillment of his judgment, the arbitral tribunal instructed the defendant to pay the plaintiff the amount of US $ 401,780 per breach of contract. As no monetary authority on the ground issues crypto-coins, the court did not approve the defendant's claim for interest.

Bitcoin as property
The Shenzhen court's ruling bears similarities to one issued by an arbitration court in Moscow earlier this year, which ruled the criptomoedas as property. The verdict came during a bankruptcy case filed by an Ilya Tsarkov.

The classification of Bitcoin and other digital currencies as property offers the possibility of tax implications. In Russia, the government also ruled in July that holders of criptomoeda will not be placed in a separate tax bracket.