court

According to IOL, the High Court of Gauteng Province in South Africa ruled that Bitcoin falls under "capital" and "currency" within the South African foreign exchange control system, and ordered the confiscation of nearly 6 million rand worth of Bitcoin assets. The court determined that a trader transferred nearly 1,680 Bitcoins to a wallet accessible only through an overseas registered cryptocurrency exchange via their Luno account between January 2018 and March 2020, which amounted to exporting capital abroad without approval from the Treasury, violating foreign exchange control regulations.Meanwhile, the South African Treasury released a draft consultation on capital flow management for 2026 last month, aimed at modernizing the management of cross-border capital flows by reducing pre-approval for transactions, strengthening reporting, and monitoring high-impact, high-risk cross-border transactions.

Privacy Agreement Zama founder Rand posted on platform X that the freezing measures against the cUSDC contract under Zama have been lifted, and all systems have returned to normal operation.According to his introduction, a U.S. court previously ordered Circle to temporarily freeze a contract worth $12.5 million in USDC held by Zama without prior notice. The court has now determined that the freezing measure was unreasonable and has lifted the temporary restraining order (TRO), and the related cUSDC contracts and assets have been fully restored. Rand stated that this incident did not affect the team's trust in USDC, and Zama still plans to launch the cUSDC product later this month.

Galaxy stated that in March this year, the New York State Supreme Court quietly accepted a lawsuit aimed at confirming the ownership of over 3.7 million bitcoins (approximately $27.4 billion) associated with 39,069 bitcoin addresses, including addresses belonging to bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto (a total of 21,744 addresses holding 1.09 million bitcoins, valued at $83.7 billion at current prices).The plaintiffs are Noah Doe (a pseudonym) and two unnamed limited liability companies from Wyoming. Noah Doe requests the New York State Supreme Court to declare their ownership of these dormant addresses through a declaratory judgment action under New York State's lost property law (Section 7-B of the Personal Property Law) as per the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Section 3001.In short, they are trying to have the New York court rule that the bitcoins of bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto (and many other lost address bitcoins) belong to lost property, and they claim the right to legally own them because they "found" these cryptocurrencies. From June 30 to July 10, 2025, they sent "abandonment notices" via OP_RETURN to each found address. However, even if they win completely, they will only receive a court statement; they will not obtain any private keys and will not be able to transfer any bitcoins from these addresses.But Galaxy indicated that the real value of the New York ruling lies in its potential to serve as a "title defect." If these bitcoins appear in any regulated venue, the plaintiff Noah Doe can use this document to raise objections with exchanges or custodians.

Zama protocol founder Rand posted on the X platform that, with the assistance of on-chain detective ZachXBT, the root cause of the cUSDC contract freeze has been identified. This freeze was caused by a court-issued injunction against addresses related to the Overnight Finance hacker, which had deposited approximately $12.5 million USDC into the cUSDC contract, accounting for over 99% of the funds within the contract, leading to the entire contract being frozen.Rand emphasized that this freeze is unrelated to the protocol itself or privacy technology, and it is not a sanction against Zama, but rather a typical DeFi judicial restriction scenario. The project adheres to compliance and privacy principles, not confusing the parties involved in transactions, only hiding balances and amounts. Currently, Zama is communicating with multiple parties to advance a resolution, has suspended the cUSDC, cUSDT, and cWETH contracts, and will restore them after completing the investigation and handling of the involved addresses, and will release a detailed review report as soon as possible.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on Tuesday that it has jointly filed a motion with Gemini Trust Company LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, requesting the dismissal of a previous judgment against Gemini.The case was originally filed in June 2022, and the parties reached a consent order in January 2025. After a comprehensive review, the CFTC concluded that the lawsuit should not have been filed and would not be filed under current enforcement standards.The review identified six major issues: the complaint was primarily based on statements from a whistleblower of questionable credibility; the investigation targeted Gemini as a victim of fraud rather than the alleged fraudster; there were serious doubts about the strength of the evidence against Gemini; relevant supporting materials were concealed and not submitted to the commissioners during the CFTC's vote on the complaint; the litigation team invoked deliberative process privilege to prevent Gemini from obtaining evidence necessary for its defense; and personnel improperly used CFTC regulatory power to create leverage for settlement.The CFTC determined that continuing to enforce the forward-looking provisions of the consent order is neither consistent with its mission nor in the public interest, and that the non-forward-looking provisions of the consent order (such as civil penalties) have been fulfilled. The parties jointly request the court to vacate the remaining forward-looking provisions.

The State Council Information Office held a series of themed press conferences titled "Starting Off the 14th Five-Year Plan," introducing the situation regarding "Promoting Comprehensive Rule of Law." Liu Guixiang, a deputy-level full-time member of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court and a second-level chief judge, stated that the Supreme Court will conduct in-depth research on the adjudication rules for new types of cases such as virtual currencies and cross-border finance, and will formulate judicial interpretations on civil compensation related to insider trading and market manipulation as soon as possible, to ensure the stable operation of the capital market and protect the legitimate rights and interests of small and medium-sized investors.In addition, he also mentioned that in response to the new business models of the digital economy, the Supreme Court will study and formulate normative documents regarding judicial protection of artificial intelligence cases and data property rights, improving the adjudication rules concerning data ownership, data transactions, and AI generation.

According to Bitcoin.com, the High Court of Windhoek, Namibia, revoked the bail of 8 absent defendants in a cryptocurrency fraud and human trafficking case and confiscated approximately $29,800 in bail money. The prosecution stated that the 8 individuals include 6 Chinese nationals, 1 Vanuatu national, and 1 Singaporean national, with 6 Chinese suspects tracked down to China. Namibian authorities have requested assistance from Interpol to locate them.The criminal group operated under a front company called Raylon Investments from December 2022 to October 2023. The group is suspected of recruiting unemployed Namibians and forcing them into labor. The state government stated that these employees were compelled to create fake social media accounts impersonating women from Europe and the United States to lure international victims into romantic relationships. Once trust was established, victims were manipulated into transferring money to cryptocurrency accounts controlled by the criminal group. Investigators estimate that the group stole approximately $267,800 from victims worldwide.

The Fuzhou City Cangshan District People's Procuratorate disclosed that a man was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison for theft after stealing 4 Bitcoins from others and illegally profiting about 900,000 yuan, with a fine of 300,000 yuan. The second instance upheld the original verdict.The case shows that at the end of 2020, Wang entrusted Lin to assist in cashing out the Bitcoins he held. During the process of accessing Wang's Bitcoin wallet hard drive and computer, Lin stole the wallet's "private key" and related data, transferring 4 Bitcoins into his own name, and subsequently sold them for profit. In 2024, after Wang discovered abnormal asset activity, he reported it to the police, and Lin was subsequently arrested.The procuratorial authority stated that although current regulations clearly indicate that virtual currencies do not have the status of legal tender, Bitcoins possess value, manageability, and transferability, meeting the general characteristics of "property" in criminal law, and are subject to property crime. Relevant infringement actions will also be held criminally accountable.

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the enforcement lawsuits by Nevada and Washington against the prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket can continue in state court, and rejected the companies' request to pause the related cases during the appeal.The court stated that Kalshi and Polymarket failed to demonstrate that the state court lawsuits would cause irreparable harm, nor did they prove that their claims regarding federal question jurisdiction had a high likelihood of success. This ruling involves the enforcement actions by Nevada against Kalshi and Polymarket, as well as the case against Kalshi by Washington.

According to Bloomberg, Galaxy Digital founder and billionaire Michael Novogratz confronted BitGo Holdings CEO Mike Belshe in court this week over a four-year merger dispute.BitGo is seeking at least $100 million in damages from Galaxy, stemming from Galaxy's proposed $1.2 billion acquisition in 2021—at the time the largest merger deal in the history of the crypto industry—which ultimately fell through due to the collapse of the crypto market. BitGo alleges that Galaxy failed to make reasonable efforts to push the deal to completion and concealed relevant details about investigations by U.S. authorities, which could significantly impact the completion of the merger.

According to the Korea Herald, a South Korean court partially approved Samsung Electronics' request for an injunction against the union's planned strike. Samsung turned from a decline to an increase, and the South Korean KOSPI index turned positive, reversing a previous decline of 4.68%.

On May 5, the Hong Kong High Court approved the application of the Department of Justice to issue an injunction against 42 individuals and companies, including Chen Zhi, the founder of the Prince Group, who are suspected of operating a scam park in Cambodia, freezing a total of HKD 8.938 billion in assets. The frozen assets include deposits in bank and securities accounts, stocks, and properties. Among them, Chen Zhi's personal assets in Hong Kong exceed HKD 6.36 billion. Zhou Yun, who assists in managing his assets, has total assets exceeding HKD 2 billion, and her personal accounts hold the equivalent of HKD 15.92 million in Hong Kong dollars, euros, and Bitcoin. In addition, related personnel from the Prince Group, Hu Xiaowei and Li Tian, have approximately HKD 400 million and HKD 172 million in assets frozen, respectively. The court will reconvene on August 3 to decide whether to extend the injunction.

According to official news, based on the update from the Arbitrum DAO proposal, a judgment creditor in an unrelated case served a restraining order to Arbitrum DAO regarding the ETH frozen after the rsETH incident. A few days later, Aave LLC filed an emergency motion to vacate. The court modified the restraining order, allowing for on-chain Arbitrum voting and transferring the frozen ETH to Aave LLC.After the transfer, the restraining order will attach to Aave LLC. The revised constitutional AIP retains the asset recovery intent approved by Arbitrum DAO, and ETH will still be used for the recovery of the rsETH incident. Aave LLC will comply with all court obligations during the litigation process.

The People's Court of Gulou District, Fuzhou City recently concluded a dispute arising from investment in virtual currency. Chen transferred 480,000 yuan to Liu for foreign exchange wealth management, and Liu converted the funds into USDT and invested on an overseas platform. After the platform closed, Chen filed a lawsuit in court seeking a refund.The court reviewed the case and found that the transaction model formed a closed loop of receiving RMB, exchanging for USDT, cross-border transfer, and buying and selling foreign exchange, which constitutes a disguised foreign exchange transaction and is suspected of economic crime. The court ruled to dismiss Chen's lawsuit and transferred the relevant materials to the public security authorities for handling, with the Fuzhou Intermediate Court upholding the original ruling. The court reminded that investing in virtual currency violates relevant civil laws of public order and good morals, and any losses arising from this shall be borne by the investor.

U.S. Manhattan Federal Court Judge Margaret Garnett approved Aave's asset recovery plan following the rsETH attack incident, allowing approximately $71 million in ETH that had previously been frozen on Arbitrum to be transferred to a wallet controlled by Aave.Court documents show that this decision modifies a prior injunction against the Arbitrum DAO, allowing the community to complete the ETH transfer through on-chain governance voting, while exempting participants in the voting and execution of the transfer from related legal liabilities. This incident stems from the rsETH attack that occurred in April, which has been widely attributed to the Lazarus Group, linked to North Korea. Previously, lawyers representing the families of North Korean terrorism victims had sought to freeze the related assets and attempted to include them in the compensation for an outstanding judgment of approximately $877 million.The Arbitrum community has shown strong support in a Snapshot temperature check vote for returning the frozen ETH to Aave's recovery plan, but the actual transfer still requires formal approval through on-chain governance. Reports indicate that this case is also part of the U.S. plaintiffs' efforts to recover crypto assets associated with North Korea. In addition to Arbitrum, the plaintiffs had previously sued the privacy protocol Railgun DAO and listed Digital Currency Group (DCG) as one of the defendants, accusing it of participating in related governance and economic activities.

The People's Court of Haidian District, Beijing, disclosed a case involving virtual currency "box opening." The defendant illegally obtained citizens' personal information through encrypted communication tools and other channels, unlawfully acquiring over 900 million pieces of information data, building a "social engineering database" website storing over 170 million pieces of citizens' personal information, and profiting by selling it in exchange for virtual currency. Additionally, they used encrypted communication tools to establish a "box opening hang person" group to publish illegal information that infringes on privacy.The court sentenced the principal offender, Lin, to 7 years in prison for the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information and the crime of illegally using information networks, and imposed a fine of 70,000 yuan.

Michael Selig, the chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated at the Consensus 2026 conference that the CFTC has filed lawsuits against regulatory agencies in about five to six states, including Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, and New York, with the core dispute being the jurisdiction over prediction markets.He mentioned that if different circuit courts issue conflicting rulings, the related cases may ultimately be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Michael Selig stated that the Commodity Exchange Act clearly grants the CFTC exclusive regulatory authority over commodity derivatives, and that prediction market event contracts are financial derivatives traded on federally regulated exchanges, which are fundamentally different from traditional gaming venue models.He believes that some state-level regulatory agencies are attempting to challenge the validity of federal law through local regulations, and the CFTC will continue to file lawsuits against such actions.

According to Decrypt, the closed cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex has filed a motion to a federal judge to withdraw its settlement agreement with the U.S. SEC and is requesting the SEC to return the $24 million fine.Bittrex was accused by the SEC of offering unregistered securities trading during the Biden administration, ultimately reaching a settlement and paying a fine, and then closed due to the "current U.S. regulatory and economic environment" that made it impossible to continue operations. Bittrex's lawyers pointed out in the latest filing that the SEC's stance on cryptocurrency regulation has fundamentally changed since the Trump administration took office, acknowledging that the legal theory that most tokens are considered securities was incorrect, that the enforcement strategy has been flawed from the beginning, and that almost all lawsuits and investigations against cryptocurrency companies have been withdrawn.Bittrex is asking the judge to order the return of the funds before the SEC transfers the money to the Treasury for compensation. In March of this year, the SEC initiated the process to transfer the fine to the Treasury.

According to The Crypto Times, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, India, rejected Abhishek Sharma's bail application. Sharma is one of the key promoters of a large-scale cryptocurrency MLM scam, which is suspected of defrauding over 80,000 investors across India, with estimated losses reaching 500 million rupees and a total investment pool of about 2 billion rupees.The report states that the scam involved several fraudulent crypto platforms such as Korvio, Voscrow, DGT, Hypenext, and A-Global, with investors promised double returns. In the early stages of the project, small returns were paid to attract more participants, but all payments suddenly stopped on December 25, 2021. Subsequently, the promoters directed users to other platforms, ultimately failing to pay any returns.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had previously conducted searches at eight locations in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, freezing approximately 12 million rupees in lockers and bank deposits. Investigators stated that the funds in the case were laundered through real estate developers, shell companies, and family bank accounts, with some senior individuals involved having fled to Dubai.