Madras High Court Declares Crypto Property

The Madras High Court recently said that cryptocurrency is a 'property' of the user.

This happened because an investor, Rhuti Kumar, lost her savings on the WazirX platform due to a cyberattack.

The court ruled that the platform couldn't control Rhuti's property.

However, the court didn't say who is responsible if someone loses their crypto assets.

WazirX has a dual-structure model where the Indian arm manages rupee deposits, and the Singapore entity holds the crypto wallets.

This creates a legal grey area about who is responsible for losses.

The court missed the chance to clarify that Indian law should apply if Indians are trading on Indian servers, no matter where the parent company is registered.

The article suggests that there should be clear standards for custodians, clarity over jurisdiction, and a requirement for insurance for crypto exchanges to protect investors.