UK Court: Tether is property

[TomPluz]

A United Kingdom High Court has ruled that stablecoin Tether is property — the first-ever ruling under English law on the treatment and status of cryptocurrency after a full trial.

The legal status of Tether or USDT was a preliminary issue in a case brought by a fraud victim whose stolen crypto — including Tether — was offloaded through various crypto exchanges after being put through crypto mixers.

The judge added USDT was “rather a distinct form of property not premised on an underlying legal right” and can be the “subject of tracing and can constitute trust property in the same way as other property.”

The decision comes one day after a UK government bill would clarify that non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptocurrency and carbon credits are “things” and “personal property” under property laws.

More of this development here.

With this landmark legal ruling, it just further strengthens the legal foundation for digital assets in the UK. Just like the fiat money, when you have crypto including stablecoin you can be granted the same rights as possessing any other properties that you may have purchased, inherited or gifted. This is important since we know that digital assets can not be physically seen unlike other properties a person may own and as such when somebody is stealing your digital assets you can use the legal system to come after the culprits.

[NotATether]

So owning USDT is like owning a house now?

You know, you can still be taxed on that, and I'm guessing that capital gains taxes still apply if you buy a 'property' and sell it at a higher value. So this doesn't really tell us anything new except for the fact that they do not see it as tender or any sort of currency () which is very confusing for people who read this article for the first time.

[ABCbits]

I also tried reading statement from UK government website[1], but i still don't understand the implication towards cryptocurrency owner and exchange in UK. They claim the owner would receive increased legal protection, but they didn't mention anything about tax.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-bill-introduced-in-parliament-to-clarify-cryptos-legal-status

[Zed0X]

~ They claim the owner would receive increased legal protection, but they didn't mention anything about tax.

UK already have a tax guideline for cryptocurrency transactions. It could fall under Capital Gains Tax or Income Tax.

Since you buy it with an asset (fiat) or earn it from providing services, I thought it's already a common knowledge that it's also a property but I guess it still needs a court decision to make it official.

[Stompix]

So owning USDT is like owning a house now?

You know, you can still be taxed on that, and I'm guessing that capital gains taxes still apply if you buy a 'property' and sell it at a higher value. So this doesn't really tell us anything new except for the fact that they do not see it as tender or any sort of currency () which is very confusing for people who read this article for the first time.

It's like owning anything, that was the ruling about:
" It can be the subject of tracing and can constitute trust property in the same way as other property."
The case was more about the claim of an exchange receiving stolen coins, so, this is like a secondary effect, that those usdt are property, they can be traced, and that receiving them would mean receiving property from a person. UK laws are a bit different on property, they have real and personal property in the law code.

[Captain Corporate]

These type of rulings could be considered basically regulations and that's an important step without a doubt. I know that its not an easy thing for the companies, but its definitely profitable for all of us. I believe that the best thing to do would be just focusing on what we can do with it, and I believe this could be considered basically regulation. It allows people to focus on their USDT holdings as well, I mean in UK at least. We should hope for these type of stuff to happen all around the world, that way we could consider it as a good thing, property would be good, currency would be even better.

[MrSpasybo]

With this landmark legal ruling, it just further strengthens the legal foundation for digital assets in the UK. Just like the fiat money, when you have crypto including stablecoin you can be granted the same rights as possessing any other properties that you may have purchased, inherited or gifted. This is important since we know that digital assets can not be physically seen unlike other properties a person may own and as such when somebody is stealing your digital assets you can use the legal system to come after the culprits.

I'm not a lawyer so I can't conclude anything about the change in USDT legal status in the UK, but I know that USDT position has improved after this ruling. Crypto and crypto investors will be protected by existing UK laws regarding asset disputes, which is a big step forward in removing negative stereotypes about crypto.

This isn't big news for Tether or the entire crypto market, it's only of interest to those interested in Tether and USDT. For me, USDT getting a better position means the crypto market is also safer from the risk of Tether collapsing, meaning we have more time to find opportunities in this market.

[yhiaali3]

Although this legal ruling strengthens the legal basis for digital assets in the UK, it is still incomplete and does not cover all the other detailed aspects related to personal ownership, but it is nevertheless a positive development towards the recognition of digital assets in the UK.

Such laws do not come all at once but are phased in to accommodate the changes that are constantly occurring, so I think that we will eventually have a complete law covering digital asset ownership, taxation, etc.

[target]

US SEC and its laws hasnt have any stance on USDT so why is UK so eager to make some regulation on it while US doesn't even have for USDT.

I wouldn't be surprised that this is just as easy as approving its people to using USDT while other stablecoin will not make it to their market.