Thailand’s Supreme Court ruled in a plenary decision that Bitcoin constitutes property capable of legal protection despite having no legal tender status. The judgment arose from an extortion case on Koh Samui in which a victim was forced to transfer 2.48 BTC, worth about $50,000 at the time, to a wallet controlled by the attackers. The court rejected the argument that Bitcoin is merely electronic data with no intrinsic value, citing its market value, its exchangeability for money and the possibility of private ownership. Initially sentenced to 15 years in prison and later reduced to 10 years for cooperating with the authorities, the defendant must return the bitcoins or compensate the victim to the tune of 1.878 million baht.
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