Dutch Court Finds That Bitcoin Has Characteristics Of Property

On February 14, 2018, after failing to comply with a court order to pay 0.591 BTC in mining proceeds to a customer, KOINZ Trading BV was declared bankrupt by the district court of Amsterdam. In its ruling (Dutch), published on March 20, 2018, the court appointed a bankruptcy trustee and found that bitcoin possesses characteristics of property rights (i.e., bitcoin represents a value and is transferable).

However, because of the nature of bitcoin wallets and private keys, it’s not apparent how the trustee would seize cryptocurrency assets or carry out the payment order. If the cryptocurrency mining firm does not provide the private keys to their wallets, the court (and the customer) may only have recourse through fiat channels.

When KOINZ Trading BV was initially ordered to pay up on January 17, 2018, the firm was threatened with a penalty of up to 10,000 euros.

Earlier this month, Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra addressed cryptocurrency regulation in a letter to Parliament. ETHNews also previously reported on the banking relationships between the Netherlands-based ING Group, Bitfinex, and Tether.

Matthew is a writer with a passion for emerging technology. Prior to joining ETHNews, he interned for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the OECD. He graduated cum laude from Georgetown University where he studied international economics. In his spare time, Matthew loves playing basketball and listening to podcasts. He currently lives in Los Angeles. Matthew is a full-time staff writer for ETHNews.

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