A British High Court judge last week allowed proceedings over the alleged theft of more than 2,323 Bitcoins to move forward, in a case that highlights the country’s legal system is still adapting traditional property laws to cryptocurrencies.
UK resident Ping Fai Yuen claimed in court documents last week that his estranged wife Fun Yung Li used the home’s CCTV cameras to secretly obtain recovery phrases to his hardware wallet and transfer 2,323 Bitcoins in August 2023 without his permission, according to the High Court of England and Wales docket.
At the time of the alleged theft 30 months ago, Bitcoin was worth just under $60 million, but at its current price of just over $74,000, it is now worth about $172 million.
The stolen cryptocurrency was stored in Trezor cold wallets protected by a PIN code. But the court noted that anyone with the wallet’s 24-word recovery phrase could recreate the wallet and transfer funds. It then moved through several transactions and now sits on 71 blockchain addresses that are not held by exchanges. The funds have not been moved since December 21, 2023, the court said.
Yuan said he later installed recording equipment at his home after his daughter warned him that Li was trying to take the bitcoins. After Yuan discovered the transfer, he confronted Li and beat her. He later pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of common assault in 2024. Police seized several hardware wallets and recovery seeds during a search of her home, but authorities later took no further action pending new evidence.
Earlier, according to the documents, the wife asked the court to dismiss the case on the grounds that the husband’s main claim was for “conversion,” which in the UK is a legal term traditionally used to refer to someone taking physical property, so it does not apply to digital assets such as Bitcoin.
The judge agreed with the wife but ruled that the case could still proceed based on a different legal claim, potentially allowing the husband to recover the bitcoins if his allegations were proven. The judge said the case will now go to trial.