By Susie Violet Ward · Forbes · 26 September 2023
In 2023, a ruling by the Shanghai Second Intermediate People’s Court described bitcoin as a “unique and non-replicable” asset with property attributes, despite China’s ban on cryptocurrencies. The court distinguished bitcoin from digital currencies such as Q coins and said that, although its decentralised nature prevented it from serving as a traditional currency, it fulfilled functions such as storage, payment and circulation.
The article places the ruling alongside Hong Kong’s new framework for virtual assets, introduced in June 2023, and asks whether China was looking for ways to reduce its financial ties to the US, pointing to its engagement with the BRICS countries, its sales of US bonds and the launch of its central bank digital currency. It compares the ruling with an earlier case in Singapore that treated cryptocurrencies as personal property.