Beijing Court Concludes China’s First Bitcoin Cash Dispute

Haidian Court concluded China’s first Bitcoin Cash dispute in Beijing. The court ruled that OKCoin, the defendant, should pay Mr. Feng, the plaintiff whose real name wasn’t revealed by the court, 38.748 Bitcoin Cash but dismissed Feng’s claim for compensation of RMB 160,000.

According to a press release from the Haidian Court, Feng registered on OKCoin on Nov 1, 2016, and bought 38.748 Bitcoin on the platform. When Bitcoin split into Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash in August 2017, OKCoin issued an announcement that it will grant the user the same amount of Bitcoin Cash as the amount of Bitcoin they own. However, Feng failed to collect his amount of Bitcoin Cash, because “the ‘collect button’ on the webpage disappeared.”

However, according to OKCoin, it’s Feng that continuously postponed collection until the collection period expired.

According to the court, Bitcoin is a legal transaction object of China’s Contact Law and should be protected. OKCoin is now obliged to pay Feng 36.748 Bitcoin Cash. However, the cash compensation claim was dismissed by the court due to the lack of legal basis. The compensation of RMB 160,000, according to OKCoin’s response to the court ruling, was the difference between the highest price of Bitcoin Cash and its current trading price.

OkCoin stated in a press release that paying back the 38.748 Bitcoin Cash is the ruling they wanted.

People can legally possess virtual commodities like Bitcoin, however, they should be responsible to take the risks themselves, according to the judge’s note on the court’s release, whose name isn’t specified.

Transitions among cryptocurrencies and between cryptocurrencies and legal tenders, which is RMB in China, have been outlawed in China. According to the Bank of China’s announcements in 2013 and in 2017, Bitcoins are not legal tenders and financial institutions can’t trade or price any products in Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency trading platforms can’t engage in the exchange business between legal tenders and cryptocurrencies or among cryptocurrencies.

Image: ccn.com