AA v Persons Unknown and Others

Queen's Bench Division (Commercial Court) [2019] EWHC 3556 (Comm), Mr Justice Bryan, 13 December 2019

Proprietary injunctions - Cryptoassets - Legal property - Choses in possession - Choses in action - Mutual legal assistance

This case involved four defendants, a Canadian based insurance company and its English insurer. The Canadian insurance company's data was hacked and held for ransom by the first defendant, a person unknown, and the ransom amount was requested in Bitcoin. The English insurer paid the ransom to the Bitcoin address of the second defendant, another person unknown. The English insurer made investigations into the transaction, including tracking the Bitcoin on the blockchain. It was revealed that 96 of the 109.25 Bitcoin sent were held in an address under the operation of the third and fourth defendants. The third and fourth defendants were trading as Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency trading platform and virtual wallet provider. The remaining Bitcoins had previously been converted into fiat currency and were no longer traceable via the blockchain. Despite having the Bitcoin address of the second defendant, the English Insurer could use it to identify the first and second defendants.