Thailand Supreme Court Rules Bitcoin Is Property in Robbery Case
Thailand's Supreme Court has ruled that Bitcoin qualifies as property under criminal law, rejecting a defendant's claim that it has no intrinsic value and upholding a 10-year sentence for a 2022 Koh Samui robbery.
Bitcoin qualifies as property under Thai criminal law, the country's Supreme Court has ruled, upholding a 10-year prison sentence for a robbery in which the victim was forced to transfer 2.480801 BTC.
The decision is numbered 4929/2569. According to local media reports, it was issued by the Supreme Court's full bench.
The case dates to September 2022 on Koh Samui, where a group of foreign nationals threatened and assaulted a victim and forced him to send the Bitcoin. Five men approached the victim and his Russian wife at a coffee shop on September 15, punched him and tried to seize his phone. The conviction rested on testimony from the victim, his wife and other witnesses, along with photographs and records of the Bitcoin transfer.
The defendant argued that Bitcoin has no intrinsic value and is not legal tender, so it could not be property taken in a robbery. The court rejected that argument. It found that Bitcoin has an identifiable market value, can be owned and can be exchanged for cash.
In reaching its decision, the court considered Sections 137 and 138 of the Civil and Commercial Code and the 2018 Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses, which defines crypto as electronic data created for use as a medium of exchange. The ruling also cited the Bank of Thailand's position that crypto is not legal tender and that its prices can fluctuate considerably. Neither point stopped the court from treating Bitcoin as property.
The trial court first sentenced the defendant to 15 years, later reduced to 10. Accounts of the reason differ. One attributes the one-third cut to the court's consideration of evidence provided by the defendant; another attributes the reduction to cooperation during the investigation.
The defendant was also ordered to return the Bitcoin or pay compensation of 1.878 million baht, a sum worth about $50,000 when the robbery occurred. The stolen Bitcoin has since risen more than fourfold in value, to around $200,000.
The ruling could influence future property crime cases involving digital assets in Thailand. It is the latest crypto enforcement matter in the country, following a criminal complaint filed by the Thai SEC against Bitkub over a $50M hack cover-up.
