UK High Court Lets Chinese Victims Appeal Law Ruling on 60,000-Plus Bitcoin

The U.K. High Court has allowed Chinese claimants to appeal its decision that Chinese law governs their ownership claims to more than 60,000 Bitcoin (BTC), reopening a key legal question in the recovery case.

About 16,000 Chinese applicants are involved in the U.K. effort to recover the coins. The court issued its ruling on the applicable law Oct. 12 and granted permission to appeal four days later. That permission lets the applicants challenge which law applies; it does not decide who owns the bitcoin.

At a subsequent hearing, lawyers discussed the legal costs of the earlier dispute over governing law. They also addressed whether the individual applicants would continue pursuing their claims and how applicants could withdraw from the proceedings.

The dispute centers on whether the applicants have ownership rights to the bitcoin. The court’s choice of law sets the framework for assessing those claims, making the appeal a step in the recovery effort rather than a decision to award the coins.