In a latest development, the Supreme Court of South Korea has given digital currencies a status of an asset with an economic value which can be confiscated. The judgment was taken in regard to a case between a porn site and 191 seized BTC.
The premier court of Korea declared on Wednesday that government has the rights to impound digital currencies if they are termed as crime profits as due to being an asset they now have economic value.
The case included the confiscation of 191 BTC of a porn site operator named Ahn. It is the first time virtual coins have been taken into custody in South Korea. The court stated that value of virtual currencies is measurable this Wednesday. It declared, “The cryptocurrency is recognized to have value so that it can be confiscated.
It was reported that “From 2013, Ahn distributed 235,000 obscene pictures online and made 1.9 billion won. He “was arrested and indicted in May 2017 for violating the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse Law.” Ahn was “sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined 696 million won by a lower court, confirmed by both a high court and the Supreme Court.”
After arresting Ahn the authorities confiscated 216 of his BTC as it was looked upon as profits from illegal activities in the form of cyber assets. Earlier, a lower jurisdiction was not impressed with the abduction of virtual coins as it said that bitcoins have no physical form and exist only electronically.
Afterward, the case was re-filed in a high court which acknowledged digital assets as profit earned through dealings in goods. The high court declared them as profits from crime and asked the authorities to confiscate 191 BTC’s. It should be noted that ceased BTC is valued at $1.4 million currently.
The high court said that giving back the BTCs would be like returning illegally earned money through a porn site. The Supreme Court has added that any cyber gains related to illegal activities like drug deals, Gambling, prostitution, and pornography have to be confiscated.
In April, a web developer was charged with dispense 235,000 files of illegal pornographic material over the span of three years. Ahn, at the age of 33 was serving 1.2 million customers through his porn websites. An amount of 1.46 billion won was seized in cash with 216 bitcoins in one of his wallets in an exchange. After his arrest, the bitcoin’s value has raised from 500 million won to 4.25 billion won ($4 million).
South Korea has been one of the hottest spots for digital currencies to grow and mature. The government has been backing the crypto space, but now it seems that they are a little more serious about a possible taming session.
It would be interesting to see the impact it will have on the world of crypto space. Currently, the whole world is expecting bitcoin to achieve new heights. If the popular coin surpasses the $20,000 mark, many governments will likely launch new policies to regulate the wild side of digital currencies.
