Thailand’s Supreme Court has settled a question defence lawyers kept raising: can you rob someone of something that exists only as data? Its full bench said yes. But the order it upheld contains a quiet twist. The convicted man can hand back the stolen bitcoin, or pay the 2022 baht value instead, and those two options are now nowhere near equal.
What the court decided
The case goes back to 15 September 2022 on Koh Samui. According to the summary reported by Crypto Times, a gang confronted a foreign tourist at a café, punched him, took his phone and forced him to buy and send 2.480801 BTC, worth about $50,000 or 1,878,000 baht at the time, to a gang member’s wallet.
The defendant, identified only as “Mr. A”, was sentenced to 10 years after a one-third reduction. On appeal he argued that bitcoin has no intrinsic value once transferred, so it cannot be “property” and a robbery charge cannot stand.
The Supreme Court rejected that in full-bench Judgment No. 4929/2569, published on 28 October 2026 (Bitcoin Addict, Siam Blockchain). Section 138 of Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code covers intangible objects that may have a value and can be appropriated. The court said bitcoin qualifies: it has a checkable market price (the judgment cites CoinMarketCap), can be turned into cash when a buyer exists, and ordinary people can hold it. It also noted the Bank of Thailand’s position that crypto is not legal tender. So bitcoin is property, not money.
The restitution maths
The order says return the 2.480801 BTC or pay 1,878,000 baht. We priced both at 6:48 PM IST today using CoinGecko (BTC at $80,640, ₹76,70,609 and 27,23,649 baht).
| Option in the order | Value today | In rupees |
|---|---|---|
| Return 2.480801 BTC | about 6.76 million baht ($200,052) | about ₹1.90 crore |
| Pay 1,878,000 baht | 1,878,000 baht | about ₹52.9 lakh |
The coins are worth about 3.6 times the cash alternative. Put another way, the baht option repays roughly 28% of what the victim lost in bitcoin terms. The $50,000 implies the gang took the coins at about $20,155 each, and bitcoin has roughly quadrupled since.
Nothing in the published summary says which option the defendant will choose, or whether the coins can still be traced. But a rational payer picks the cheaper one. The ruling protects bitcoin as property, then lets the debt be settled at a four-year-old price.
India got there a year earlier
On 25 October 2025, the Madras High Court reached a similar conclusion in Rhutikumari v. Zanmai Labs, a WazirX case. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh wrote that crypto “is not a tangible property nor is it a currency. However, it is a property… capable of being held in trust” (judgment PDF). The applicant held 3,532.30 XRP bought for about ₹2 lakh, frozen after WazirX’s 2024 hack. The court ordered a ₹9.56 lakh bank guarantee or escrow, several times the roughly ₹2 lakh she had paid (Indian Express).
That is the useful contrast. The Madras order protected the holding at far more than its purchase cost. The Thai order, as summarised, fixes the cash option at the price on the day of the crime.
What it means for Indian investors
- Two Asian courts now agree that crypto can be owned, stolen and held in trust. That helps victims of theft or exchange failure argue for the coins themselves.
- Being property doesn’t change tax. India treats crypto as a virtual digital asset: 30% plus cess on gains and 1% TDS on transfers. Our crypto tax calculator and all ₹ tools show the net-in-hand figures.
- If you ever claim compensation for stolen crypto, ask for the coins or their value at the date of payment. A fixed rupee figure taken at the date of loss can fall far behind.
BtcMedia verdict
The Thai ruling is a real step: no Thai court can now accept “it’s only data” as a defence. But in volatile assets, the remedy matters as much as the label. Property that can be repaid at an old price is only partly protected.
How we calculated this: 2.480801 BTC multiplied by CoinGecko’s BTC price in USD, INR and THB at 6:48 PM IST on 28 October 2026; baht converted to rupees at 33.77 THB and 95.20 INR per USD (open.er-api.com, same day).
FAQ
Did Thailand make bitcoin legal tender? No. The court called bitcoin property and cited the Bank of Thailand’s view that it is not legal money.
Is crypto property in India? The Madras High Court said so in October 2025, in an interim WazirX order. It is a High Court ruling, not a Supreme Court one.
Why is the cash option smaller? It is fixed at the 1,878,000 baht the coins were worth in September 2022, while bitcoin’s price has roughly quadrupled since.
This article is for information only and is not financial or legal advice.