Cryptocurrency Now Viewed as Property in Singapore: High Court Ruling

• The High Court of Singapore has ruled that cryptocurrencies are to be regarded as property in the country.
• Judge Philip Jeyaretnam stated that all objects, whether physical or not, share value created by a shared faith and there is no distinction between crypto, fiat currency, or shells.
• MAS will implement segregation and custody requirements for digital payment tokens.

High Court of Singapore Rules Cryptocurrency is Property

The High Court of Singapore has ruled that cryptocurrencies should be regarded as property in the country. This ruling was made on July 25th by Judge Philip Jeyaretnam in a case brought by ByBit against its former employee, Ho Kai Xin. According to ByBit, the employee transferred about 4.2 million Tether (USDT) from the cryptocurrency exchange to her personal accounts without permission.

Cryptocurrencies Have Value and Are Not Distinguishable From Fiat Money

In his ruling, Judge Jeyaretnam stated that as long as all objects share value created by a shared faith in it, there is no distinction between cryptocurrencies, fiat currency or shells. He also corrected the notion that cryptocurrency lacks “real” value by pointing out that value is “a judgement made by an aggregate of human minds” and categorised cryptoraphy as one of the “things in action”.

MAS Implements Segregation and Custody Requirements for Digital Payment Tokens

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will now implement segregation and custody requirements for digital payment tokens following Judge Jeyaretnam’s ruling. The judge cited MAS to support his ruling and said it should be legally possible to hold such digital assets on trust if it is done correctly according to law.

ByBit Case Against Former Employee

The case mentioned above was brought up by ByBit against its former employee, Ho Kai Xin who had transferred about 4.2 million Tether (USDT) from the cryptocurrency exchange to her personal accounts without permission. He has been claiming that a distant cousin is in charge of these pertinent accounts but the court has now ordered him to return all of money back to ByBit regardless of who owns them currently .

Conclusion

This ruling clarifies some misconceptions surrounding cryptoassets like lack of real value or differences between them compared with fiat money or shells; while also setting law precedence for what can be considered property when it comes to digital assets in Singapore