Qingdao prosecutors rule Bitcoin is property under criminal law

Prosecutors in Qingdao, China, have ruled that Bitcoin qualifies as property under criminal law in a case involving the theft of 107 BTC, according to a local Chinese media outlet. The defendant, surnamed Zhang, was sentenced to 10 years and nine months in prison and fined 100,000 yuan (around $13,800) for using the victim's crypto wallet recovery phrase to steal the funds. The prosecution argued that Bitcoin meets the legal requirements for property as it possesses economic value and can be exclusively controlled. The value of the theft was calculated based on the more than 660,000 yuan (over $91,000) the defendant received from selling the stolen Bitcoin.