Singapore High Court recognizes NFTs as property

The decision was made as part of a dispute over the ownership of a token from the BAYC collection

25.10.2022 - 08:15

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What’s new? According to the ruling of the Singapore High Court dated October 21, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are recognized as properties. The ruling follows a dispute over the ownership of token #2162 from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, in which the court barred the sale of the asset in the interest of protecting the plaintiff in May 2022.

Link to the court’s official ruling

What else is known? Justice Lee Seiu Kin ruled that NFTs meet the legal requirements to be considered property. For example, this type of asset differs from others and also has an owner that can be recognized by third parties.

In the case decided, the investor, who wished to remain anonymous, used BAYC#2162 as collateral to borrow ETH on the NFTfi platform but failed to make payment on time. Due to the breach of agreement, the defendant under the nickname chefpierre foreclosed on the plaintiff’s token and transferred the token to a personal wallet, and put it up for sale on the OpenSea marketplace.

The ruling of the Singapore High Court could be a watershed moment for the regulation of NFTs in that country, as investors and traders will be protected by ownership law.

In October, the US Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation into Yuga Labs, the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection. The regulator intends to find out whether the company’s non-fungible tokens and native coin, ApeCoin (APE), fall within the definition of securities.

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