Singapore's first bitcoin trial begins, with dispute on trades allegedly reversed wrongfully

B2C2 founder Maxime Boonen at the Supreme Court, on Nov 21, 2018. ST PHOTO: KHALID BABA

SINGAPORE: The trial for Singapore's first legal dispute involving the cryptocurrency bitcoin started on Wednesday (Nov 21), with a court expected to decide whether a number of trades done in April last year had been wrongfully reversed - leading to proceeds deducted allegedly without authorisation.

In the case being heard in the Singapore International Commercial Court, electronic market maker B2C2 is suing bitcoin exchange operator Quoine over a "unilateral reversal" of seven trades on its platform. A market maker is a member firm of an exchange that also trades on it.

B2C2 seeks to recover about 3,085 bitcoins from Quoine, with its lawyers charging in an opening statement that Quoine had sought to "abuse its role as operator of the platform" and "acted in breach" of trust as a custodian for B2C2. - Straits Times Singapore