South Korean Court Makes Historic Ruling: Bitcon has Economic Value

A court in South Korea, the Suwon District Court, has made a historic ruling. The court has actually reached the conclusion that bitcoin has economic value. This is the first time when such a ruling is made in South Korea, one of the most active markets when it comes to intentions to regulate cryptocurrencies.

The South Korean court overturned a previous court ruling which said that digital currencies don't have value

So, this ruling came in response to a previous court ruling which refused to recognize the economic value of bitcoin. The decision is linked to a case over the confiscation of a total of 216 bitcoins. Reportedly, the court claimed that since bitcoin has economic value, it can be confiscated. The case is not linked cryptocurrency exchanges or the regulations that have been debated by authorities when it comes to the cryptocurrency market.

In fact, the case is linked to the arrest of the operator of an illegal pornography site. The man was arrested in May, 2017, and at the time of his arrest authorities confiscated from his online wallet a total of 216 bitcoins. The initial ruling on the case was not favorable to bitcoin. In fact, the ruling which was granted in September 2017 indicated bitcoin could not be confiscated because it did not have economic value.

The ruling was appealed by a prosecutor, who claimed that the court's decision was not adequate. The rehearing of the case led to a much different decision, as the court claimed that since bitcoin can be changed into money at several cryptocurrency exchanges, it can be said that the digital currency has economic value.

The prosecutors said that 191 bitcoins out of the 216 confiscated by authorities were considered to be criminal proceeds from the website.