Thai Supreme Court Says Bitcoin Is Property in Robbery Case
The judge referred to Thailand’s digital asset law and ruled that Bitcoin can be recovered as stolen property, even though it is not legal tender.
Key Takeaways
- Thailand’s Supreme Court ruled that Bitcoin counts as property in a robbery case.
- The court rejected the argument that Bitcoin would have no intrinsic value.
- The defendant received 10 years in prison; the Bitcoin had to be returned to the victim.
Thailand’s Supreme Court has ruled that Bitcoin counts as property in a robbery case. That means the court rejected the defense from a suspect who argued that the crypto had no intrinsic value.
The case centered on a victim who was forced in September 2022 on Koh Samui to exchange $50,000 (€44,900) into about 2.48 BTC and then transfer it to the attackers. At the time, Bitcoin was trading around $20,000 (€18,000). The court looked not only at the transaction itself, but also at whether the converted value could still legally count as stolen property.
What the Court Decided
In a summary, the court said the full panel concluded that Bitcoin has a market price, can be converted into cash if there is a buyer, and can be held by the public. According to the judges, that makes it possible to treat Bitcoin as property in this case.
The court also referred to Thailand’s 2018 digital asset law. It describes crypto as electronic data created on a network and used as a medium of exchange. At the same time, the court pointed to a letter from the Bank of Thailand saying that crypto is not legal tender. That did not change the conclusion that Bitcoin could indeed count as property in this criminal case.
Sentence and Earlier Ruling
According to local media, the defendant ultimately received 10 years in prison. The trial court had handed down 15 years, but reduced that sentence by one-third because the information provided by the defendant was useful to the investigation. The lower court also ordered that the Bitcoin be returned to the victim.
The case shows that Thailand does not look at crypto only as an investment asset or a payment method, but also as property that can be protected in criminal cases. For European crypto readers, that matters because it shows how courts outside the EU handle the question of whether a token legally counts as property. That could be important in countries where regulators and judges are still looking for a clear line between digital assets and traditional property.
That legal question is also playing out in other markets. In Canada, APX Lending is working on Bitcoin mortgages, where BTC is meant to serve as collateral for home financing.
