Court rules Ethereum is an information network under current law

A South Korean court has ruled that the Ethereum network qualifies as an information and communications network under current law, Digital Asset reported. The court rejected the defendant’s claim that there was no unlawful intrusion into an information network because Ethereum is decentralized and has no service provider that grants access permissions. The 13th Criminal Division of the Seoul Northern District Court sentenced a defendant identified only as A to three years and six months in prison on July 23 on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violations of the Information and Communications Network Act. The court said A took part in stealing more than 800 million won worth of USDT and has made no recovery of the victims’ losses. A was indicted on allegations of creating a fraudulent website as a developer and producing smart contract source code. Prosecutors identified A as an accomplice in a scheme that introduced multiple victims to a fake digital-asset staking website, obtained access permissions for their MetaMask wallets, and then stole digital assets through smart contracts.