Shanghai District Court: Virtual Currencies Are Protected By Law And Seen As Properties

Shanghai Hongkou District Court made a statement that reached into the crypto news today, saying that virtual currencies especially Ethereum are protected by law and considered properties.

The crypto-related case was one of an attempted transaction between a tech company based in Beijing and an individual crypto investor. The transaction was followed by multiple difficulties. After a while, the company wanted the transaction to be reversed because the investor refused to respond to the demand.

There were also some operational errors with one of the investor’s accounts after the company attempted to return the ether tokens to the investor. After the company explained the situation, they contacted the investor and asked for a refund but the investor was not available.

The Court’s decision for the case was that the company’s request to seek refund is justified and according to the law they have the right to do so. However, the investor found this decision insufficient and claimed that the ban on Ethereum in the country should be taken into account.

However, regardless of the ban, Ether is still protected by the law as a property. The court explained and defended the decision that Ethereum is not denied of protection and also the case is based on unjust enrichment since the investor took advantage of the error that occurred on the platform and harmed others.

If there were more regulations that are properly introduced to the crypto industry, these issues could’ve been avoided. Also, the situation may have never been so complicated but this leaves some room for further improvement and development.

According to the Court, the company was very fortunate that the investor used his real name for his account so he was easy to track down.