The Singapore International Commercial Court freezes approximately 75 million Singapore dollars in cryptocurrency assets

The Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) has ordered the freezing of approximately SGD 75 million worth of Bitcoin and USD Coin, involving a transfer dispute between a global major cryptocurrency exchange operator (the plaintiff and related companies) and a long-term customer. In a ruling made in March 2026 by Singapore High Court Judge Aidan Xu and SICC international judges Anthony Meagher and David Goddard, the court granted the plaintiff a temporary injunction, prohibiting the defendant from disposing of 816,773 USDC and 780 BTC transferred from two dedicated wallets on the platform and the corresponding profits, and required the defendant to disclose the whereabouts of the assets, but did not allow the plaintiff to use that information to apply for similar injunctions in other jurisdictions.

The defendant had held 2,500 BTC and 2,500 BCH in the dedicated wallet. The plaintiff claimed that due to technical reasons, the internal ledger did not record the defendant's transfer operation in March 2020, and the wallet appeared empty. Based on this misunderstanding, the plaintiff transferred 2,500 BTC and 2,500 BCH to the defendant's other wallet in July 2024. The defendant subsequently exchanged 20 BTC for approximately 816,773 USDC and transferred it along with 780 BTC to a non-plaintiff custodial wallet between July and November 2024. After discovering the ledger error in January 2025, the plaintiff froze the defendant's wallet and recovered the remaining 1,700 BTC and 2,500 BCH.