At long last Cryptopia victims may be one step closer to finally recovering their cryptos. After more than a year of painstaking investigation, liquidators Grant Thornton have finally received a positive ruling from the New Zealand High Court.
Cryptocurrencies Are ‘Property’ Owned by Individual Account Holders
Cryptopia exchange dropped an update on its Twitter account today. After a long and bumpy road to get here, it seems that Cryptopia victims may be in luck at last. Justice Gendall of the High Court of New Zealand delivered two significant judgements in his 74-page legal document.
TL;DR? Cryptocurrencies are “property” and despite the fact that the assets were held in co-mingled wallets, they are officially owned by the account holders and not the company itself.
(1/2) Today, 8 April 2020, Justice Gendall delivered his judgement finding firstly, cryptocurrencies are “property” within the definition outlined in s2 of the Companies Act 1993 and secondly, that account holders' cryptocurrency were held on multiple trusts, separated by …
— Cryptopia Exchange (@Cryptopia_NZ) April 8, 2020
(2/2) … individual crypto-asset type. This means that the cryptocurrencies are beneficially owned by the account holders and are not assets of the company. Read the full judgement here: https://t.co/ceUywTVdFY
— Cryptopia Exchange (@Cryptopia_NZ) April 8, 2020
Why is this good news for Cryptopia users? Because this ruling means that the hacked exchanges liquidators can start the process of returning users funds without having to perform a painstaking reconciliation process that was on the table last month.
Cryptopia’s liquidators have had a tough job since they took on the task last year. From finding out that users funds were mixed into co-mingles wallets to breaches in AML requirements, it looked as if users would never receive their funds. At last, the New Zealand judge has thrown them a lifeline.
Cryptopia Victims Enthused by Latest News
Some of Cryptopia’s followers pointed out that its liquidators could do a better job of communicating with them. After all, how many people have the time or knowledge to dissect such a lengthy legal text?
When and how are we receiving our coins back? Don’t expect people to read your lengthy report everytime, your report needs to come in with more of highlighted decisions and next actions.
However, the overall response to the latest news was upbeat. For the first time in a long time, it looks as if legitimate users are closer to recovering their funds–the only question that remains now is when.
What do you make of the latest Cryptopia update? Add your thoughts below!
Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @Cryptopia_NZ