China Court Recognizes Bitcoin As ‘Virtual Property’

Well, looks like there is finally some good news about bitcoin, after a long time. Bitcoin was recognized as ‘virtual property’, in a court room in China. According to a judgement, Bitcoin is legal to own in China and indicates to holders that they will be protected by the country’s legal system in disputes, according to news portal, Crypto Slate.The news portal reported that in 2013,  the plaintiff had purchased 2.675 BTC for 20,000 yuan ($2,900) from a store on Taobao, which was a Chinese online marketplace, allegedly operated by the defendant, Shanghai Technology Company. In 2017, the plaintiff wanted to access the funds and found the store was closed and could not contact the operator to gain possession of their Bitcoin. The plaintiff further stated in their complaint that the prior to the store being closed, Shanghai Technology Company, did not give any notice to their customers.Last October, we had reported that three people A, B and C had signed the “Equity Transfer Agreement”, that stipulated that the respondent C shall transfer 5% of the shares of Company X held by the applicant. The equity transfer amount was 550,000 yuan, of which 250,000 yuan was paid by the respondent C to the applicant A.Since Applicant B entrusted the respondent C to manage the assets such as Bitcoin, based on the partial income generated by the part of the assets, the respondent C will return the BTC, BCH and BCD agreed upon in the contract to the applicant B as scheduled. Person B agreed to pay the applicant’s share of the remaining equity transfer of 300,000 yuan instead of the respondent C. After the signing of the agreement, the respondent C did not return BTC, BCH and BCD in accordance with the contract.At the time, the court had stated that although, bitcoin’s legality is not clear in China, “bitcoin return contract concluded between private individuals does not violate the mandatory provisions of the legal and regulatory effects and should not be considered invalid. Chinese laws and regulations do not prohibit privately held and legally transferred bitcoin.”Liked what you read? Join us on Telegram