A court in Hong Kong has already acknowledged cryptocurrencies as legitimate property that one will be able to hold- in a ruling that involved the defunct crypto exchange Gatecoin.
In an analysis of this ruling that was published by Hogan Lovells, Judge Linda Chan went on to state that the crypto had attributes of property. The court further deemed that it was absolutely appropriate to follow the reasoning that had been applied by other jurisdictions that the cryptocurrency was property and could also form the subject matter of trust. Chan went on to note that just like other common law jurisdictions, the definition of property was quite an inclusive one- and was intended to have a wide meaning.
Hong Kong Court Has Ruled That Cryptocurrencies Are A Part of Property Now
According to the law firm Hogan Lovells, this new ruling effectively gave insolvency practitioners in Hong Kong far greater clarity when it came to digital assets. The court also confirmed that crypto constituted property which was quite similar to most of the other assets like stocks that aligned the country with a few other jurisdictions.
The case involved Gatecoin- which was a crypto exchange based in Hong Kong, that suffered through a hack back in 2016, and ended up losing $2 million in digital assets. In March 2019, the exchange also announced that it had received a liquidation order from a court in Hong Kong.
With Hong Kong pushing its goal of becoming a global crypto hub, the state-affiliated banks of China have taken up the opportunity to create partnerships and onboard regulatory crypto firms in the small nation. The events have been unfolding despite a massive and blanket ban on crypto-related activities in China.
