Topic: Russian Court: Theft Of 100 BTC Isn’t A Crime Because Bitcoin Isn’t Property (Read 416 times)

Sometimes, human legalities are devoid of common sense.

I've read this news a few days ago and the recent Chinese case which is somehow similar to this one came to mind. There was a legal battle over whether or not Bitcoin is an asset under the Chinese law. If it is, then it is protected by law. If it isn't, then all hell breaks loose.

The only difference is that the Chinese case ended up in favor of Bitcoin as an asset while this one does not seem to favor Bitcoin as a property.

My point, however, is simply that if something owned by someone is stolen or robbed by another then, by all means, it is illegal and should therefore be returned to its owner, regardless if that particular thing is legally classified as an asset or not.

According to Roman classical law, which is also used in Russia in order to have ownership of any thing, a person must have the right to own (the presence of this thing), the right to use (the ability to derive any benefit from it) and the right to dispose (sell, exchange, give and so on). The victims had these rights before the theft of bitcoins. Bitcoins have a certain material value. Theft in Russia is recognized as the secret theft of another's property. I see no reason to refuse the claim to the victims. This is contrived by the court.

Subsequent developments in the case involving two men impersonating the Federal Security Services (FSBs) have paid off. In particular, on June 30, the Russian criminal court rejected the claim for victims with the argument that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies do not inherit the same protection as other types of assets.

The case began in 2018 when two men impersonating Federal Security Service (FSB) employees and their accomplices kidnapped the victim and forced him to give them 5 million rubles or $ 90,000 in cash and 99.7 BTC – worth about $ 900,000 at the time. The kidnappers were sentenced to eight and ten years in prison.

After that, the lawsuit went on and on because the victims demanded compensation and forced the scammers to pay back the money they stole. The court still ruled in favor of the victim, insisting the criminals had to repay 5 million rubles. However, when it comes to cryptocurrencies, the court declared that they could not respond to the claim, as Bitcoin was not legally recognized by Russian law.

Therefore, it seems that this incident is outside their jurisdiction.

Even so, victims can still try their luck in civil court. Regardless of any future legal proceedings, this court’s decision is remarkable – in essence, it claims that Bitcoin theft is not a crime.

Source: The Russian Criminal Court Rejected The 99.7 BTC Claim From The Victims Because Bitcoin Was Not Recognized As Legal Tender

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Source: The Russian Criminal Court Rejected The 99.7 BTC Claim From The Victims Because Bitcoin Was Not Recognized As Legal Tender

The continuous tug of war for legality of bitcoin is very taxing for its citizen, this wavering support is giving the people a reluctant hope. The strict laws wouldn't be a thing if the legitimacy of cryptocurrency is still questionable. This is just a few cases that will be a predecessor to more albeit similar cases.

Well, Russia is one of the countries where-in the Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not welcomed like the blockchain. The country wants to hit harder on cryptocurrencies and its activities by imposing strict laws and taxes. Although, the crypto geeks in Russia regardless of the laws proposed tend to carry out trade persistently.

i think he was implying that yobit's infrastructure is out of reach of the russian authorities, which is probably true. BTC-E structured themselves the same way.

as the WEX case showed, the russian police could just $5 wrench attack the admins---if they are in russia.

however, the arrest of pavel krymov (alleged yobit founder) 2 years ago in moscow appears to have accomplished nothing as far as yobit's operations go.

Yeah, just like BTC-e was out of reach from the US...Not! Remember Mega?

Can you point to anywhere that mentions that?

The scam of scams is officially registered in Moscow, Russia. It is impossible to find more details about the business niche they are involved in, but one is sure just few months ago Russia policy was harsh to crypto currencies. The other fact that even BTC-E exchange is registered in Bulgaria tell us enough.

The main yobit server is located in San Francisco where the HashOcean phantom office was too. Yobit.net has a reserve domain registred somewhere in Panama (The prosperous land for ponzi schemes).

Their servers and domains are based in the US and Panama so even though they're still subject to Russian law, the website itself is out of reach for them so they can't really seize it or anything.

Their servers and domains are based in the US and Panama so even though they're still subject to Russian law, the website itself is out of reach for them so they can't really seize it or anything.

Roughly, with a strong catch-up word, they began to threaten the cryptocurrency miner that they would take him to Shpalernaya Street, where they would torture him and torture him, beat him and inject chemicals into the body that affect the nervous system. The man did not check whether intruders would fulfill their threats or not. He took 5 million rubles from a cache in the kitchen and handed them to Piron. And also from the cryptocurrency electronic wallet he transferred bitcoins to him.

Their servers and domains are based in the US and Panama so even though they're still subject to Russian law, the website itself is out of reach for them so they can't really seize it or anything.

I'm sure there are Russian owned and operated exchanges. If they're sensible they would not be running them in Russia. Then again this might act as a wonderful incentive to bring some 'business' home.

Yobit is an eternal mystery. They've probably leased a secret Mir and hide in space.

It may be a regional court and this was a one off decision. If I were the victim I'd be looking for a definitive answer from the highest court I could get heard in.

Yobit? Yeah i know... i avoid it at all costs, but surely there are even more sketchy ones in there. No wonder they aren't interested in KYC or anything like that.

Are there any exchanges in Russia at all?
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