New Delhi – On October 26, a single‑judge bench at the Madras High Court decided that cryptocurrency is a form of property under Indian law. The court said the digital coins are not a currency or a physical object, but they are a valuable asset that can be owned, enjoyed and held in trust.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh explained that “property in the legal sense means an aggregate of rights that are guaranteed and protected by law.” He linked the decision to earlier Supreme Court judgments that broaden the sense of “property” in India. The judge also noted that cryptocurrencies fall under the category of “virtual digital assets” in the Income Tax Act, 1961, and are not treated as merely speculative.
The ruling came in a dispute over the applicant’s 3,532.30 XRP coins held on the WazirX platform. Those coins had been frozen after a 2024 cyber‑attack. The High Court recognised the holdings as the applicant’s property and halted any further interference while arbitration proceeds.
Justice Venkatesh highlighted that, even though crypto consists of “streams of 1s and 0s on a blockchain managed by the issuer,” it is an asset that can be owned, transferred and stored. He urged lawmakers to create a regulatory framework that fuels innovation but also protects consumers and keeps the financial system stable.
He cited a 2020 decision from New Zealand’s High Court in Ruscoe vs. Cryptopia Ltd, which called cryptocurrencies a type of intangible property that can be held in trust. The Madras judgment echoes similar findings around the world: the UK High Court in AA vs. Persons Unknown (2019), Singapore in ByBit Fintech Ltd v. Ho Kai Xin (2023), and US federal courts in SEC vs. Ripple Labs (2023) have all treated crypto tokens as property or commodities.
With this landmark decision, the legal status of digital assets in India becomes clearer. The ruling could influence how crypto is taxed, inherited, handled in insolvency cases, and enforced in contracts. Investors, traders and lawyers are watching closely, as the new status may reshape the crypto landscape in the country.
Source: ianslive
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