Thailand’s Supreme Court recognizes Bitcoin as legal property

A robbery case on Koh Samui produced a binding ruling that treats Bitcoin as property under Thai civil law Thailand’s highest court has decided that Bitcoin is property. Not money, not legal tender, but property you can own, lose, and have stolen from you. The ruling came out of a violent robbery on Koh Samui. It may end up shaping how Thai courts treat crypto in civil and criminal cases for years. A robbery that became a landmark On October 28, 2026, Thailand’s Supreme Court issued full-bench judgment 4929/2569. The decision classifies Bitcoin as “property” under Sections 137 and 138 of the Civil and Commercial Code. The facts of the case read like a crime thriller set in paradise. Five foreign nationals were convicted of assaulting a tourist on Koh Samui and forcing the victim to transfer 2.480801 BTC. At the time, that haul was valued at approximately $50,000, or 1.878 million THB. Each of the five defendants received a 10-year prison sentence. The court also ordered them to return the stolen Bitcoin or pay equivalent cash restitution. The legal core of the case was a deceptively simple question: can you rob someone of something that exists only as data? The court said yes. Its ...