At a glance

  • Thailand’s Supreme Court has ruled that bitcoin counts as property for property crimes, upholding a 10-year sentence for a gang robbery in which a victim was forced to send 2.480801 BTC, according to Judgment No. 4929/2569.
  • The court said bitcoin “has a price and can be possessed” (translated), even though it is not legal tender, according to the judgment and CoinDesk.

The ruling was decided by resolution of the court’s plenary meeting, according to the published text. A summary appeared on 28 Oct in the court’s series of selected judgments, Bitcoin Addict reported. The published text does not name the defendant.

What the courts found

According to the judgment, on 13 Sep 2022 a group of foreign men threatened and assaulted the victim at a café on Koh Samui. They forced the victim to convert $50,000, put at about ฿1,878,000 at the time, into bitcoin and send it to a wallet controlled by the group.

Prosecutors charged the defendant under several sections of the Penal Code, including gang robbery and robbery using a vehicle, the judgment says. The Koh Samui Provincial Court imposed 15 years in prison, reduced by a third to 10 years. It ordered the defendant to return the bitcoin or pay ฿1,878,000.

That sum is about $55,600 or €49,940 at the ECB reference rates of 28 Oct 2026 (USD/THB 33.775, USD/EUR 0.89823). The Appeal Court for Region 8 upheld the ruling, and so did the Supreme Court.

The amounts above come from the court record. The 2.480801 BTC would be worth about $199,000 at Kraken’s price of $80,213 at 10:45 UTC on 29 Oct.

Why the court said bitcoin is property

On appeal, the defendant argued that bitcoin is not property, CoinDesk reported. The Supreme Court pointed to the definition of digital assets in the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses of 2018, according to the judgment.

It also cited a Bank of Thailand letter saying crypto is not legal tender but has a market value and can be exchanged for cash, the judgment says. The court noted that the Securities and Exchange Commission supervises the sector, and concluded that bitcoin is property that can be robbed.

Why it matters: a Supreme Court ruling gives prosecutors and lower courts in Thailand a clear answer when defendants argue that taking crypto by force is not theft or robbery.

Thailand has been building out its rules for the sector this year, from crypto ETF rules to licensing changes such as Bitget’s deal for GMO’s licensed Thai exchange.

What’s still unclear

The published text does not say whether the victim has recovered any of the bitcoin. It also does not say what happened to the other members of the group. It is not yet clear how far the reasoning will be applied in civil disputes, such as inheritance or bankruptcy cases.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.