UK High Court Rules Chinese Law Governs Bitcoin Claims in $6.1B Tianjin Case

The ruling turns on a choice-of-law question, but its practical effect is to sever the recovery from the asset's market performance. That matters because it sets a precedent for how cross-border crypto claims are characterised: as ordinary property restitution rather than as an interest in the appreciating asset itself. For the victims, the gap between principal-plus-interest and current value is the whole dispute. Whether other jurisdictions follow this characterisation, and how remaining recovery proceeds are distributed, is the open question.