Cryptocurrency is property that can be held in trust, a judge on the High Court of Singapore ruled earlier this week, according to a news story published by Cointelegraph.
Judge Philip Jeyaretnam of the High Court of Singapore handed down a ruling on Tuesday saying he saw no difference between cryptocurrency and shells or other objects, so long as such objects share a value based on mutual faith, Cointelegraph reported the same day. Stolen USDT tokens and all cryptocurrencies in general, are property, though they don't have any physicality, Jeyaretnam said in his ruling.
"We identify what is going on as a particular digital token, somewhat like how we give a name to a river even though the water contained within its banks is constantly changing," Jeyaretnam wrote.
Jeyaretnam rebuked the notion that cryptocurrency has no real value, saying instead that cryptocurrency's real value is "a judgment made by an aggregate of human minds." The judge also classified cryptocurrency as "things in action."
Under British common law, things in action are property over which legal action can enforce personal rights, rather than physical possession, according to the Cointelegraph news story.
Jeyaretnam cited a Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) consultation paper for implementation of digital payment token segregation and custody requirements and said if cryptocurrency can be identified and segregated, it can be held in trust.
His decision also mentioned Order 22 of Singapore’s Rules of Court 2021 defining "movable property" as including "cash, debt, deposits of money, bonds, shares or other securities, membership in clubs or societies, and cryptocurrency or other digital currency."
Jeyaretnam's ruling following a High Court of Justice in London decision this past May that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are "private property."
"Experts called the decision a "great precedent" for people investing in NFTs who hoped that British courts would protect their property rights," Cointelegraph's news story said.
