Hong Kong’s High Court has passed a groundbreaking decision by recognizing cryptocurrency as a form of property, marking it the first time such a ruling has been made in the city-state.
The verdict came as part of a legal case involving Gatecoin Limited, a domestic crypto exchange that operated between January 2015 and its eventual closure four years later.
According to an analysis of the ruling published by the law firm Hogan Lovells, Judge Linda Chan, who presided over the case, stated that cryptocurrency possesses property attributes.
The court concluded that it was reasonable to adopt the same reasoning used by other jurisdictions that recognize crypto as property and could, therefore, be subject to a trust arrangement. This ruling clarifies the legal status of cryptocurrency in Hong Kong and paves the way for its wider adoption and usage in the city-state.
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