The court indirectly recognized the cryptocurrency as property and recognized its value.
In what is being perceived as a landmark judgment, a Russian court has ruled in favor of a petitioner who asked the judge to include the bitcoins held by a bankrupt person in the debtor’s bankruptcy estate.
Significantly, the judgement classifies Bitcoin as a “valuable property,” a strong sign towards the recognition of the virtual asset in Russia.
The origins of this dispute traced back to a claim filed to the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeals by the bankruptcy trustee Alexei Leonov in October 2017. A lower court had initially directed the bankrupt Ilya Tsarkov to disclose the contents of his Blockchain.info wallet as part of the real estate estimation process.
But at the time, the court rejected the lawyer’s request to involve the bitcoins into the repayment process, citing the absence of practice in selling cryptocurrencies.
Following the failure of Tsarkov to pay the required debt ($285,000) in ordinary assets, the appeal court has overturned the previous judgment and ordered Mr. Tsarkov to transfer the digital currency as a valid and legitimate property.