Thailand’s Supreme Court rules Bitcoin is property under criminal law

A landmark judgment upholds a 10-year sentence for a Koh Samui robbery accomplice and rejects the argument that Bitcoin has no real value Thailand’s Supreme Court has ruled that Bitcoin counts as property protected under the country’s criminal law. The decision upheld a 10-year prison sentence for an accomplice in a robbery that targeted a tourist’s money and turned it into crypto. A tropical heist with a blockchain twist The judgment, case No. 4929/2569, was issued on October 28, 2026. It stems from a 2022 armed robbery on Koh Samui, one of Thailand’s best-known island destinations. The defendant and his accomplices forced a tourist to convert approximately $50,000 into Bitcoin. That amounted to 2.480801 BTC, which the victim was then made to transfer to the robbers. In local currency, the haul was worth around 1.878 million baht at the time. The defendant’s sentence was originally 15 years. It was reduced to 10 years because of his cooperation, and the Supreme Court affirmed that reduced term. His core argument on appeal was that Bitcoin lacked intrinsic value. The court rejected that reasoning. It pointed to Bitcoin’s market price and its tradability as evidence of real value. J...