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ARTICLE · 02 MAY 2023

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Hong Kong court recognises that crypto is property

Piper Alderman
Piper Alderman
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The court recognised crypto-assets as property "capable of being held on trust" as assets in the liquidation.

Hong KongTechnology
Michael Bacina
Michael Bacina
Steven Pettigrove
Steven Pettigrove
Jake Huang
Jake Huang
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The Hong Kong High Court has found that cryptocurrencies are property in a landmark case, further boosting the city's virtual asset industry and its ambition to become the Asian crypto hub. This stands in stark contrast to recent events in the USA, where the Chair of the SEC, Mr Gary Gensler, was unwilling to commit to whether Eth was a commodity or security when questioned by Congress.

In the Re Gatecoin decision, the court needed to decide how crypto-assets belonging to a collapsed crypto exchange would be distributed to creditors. The court recognised crypto-assets as property "capable of being held on trust", the first time such a ruling has ever been made in Hong Kong.

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