Comment by walterbell

4 months ago

It describes the legal status of stolen cryptocurrency changing after the first sale. This HN story is about stolen cryptocurrency. In particular:

> The wallet has sold around $200 million worth of stETH so far

If some of those sales took place within jurisdiction of a U.S. state that has ratified UCC Article 12, then the buyer of the stolen cryptocurrency is now the new legal owner.

3 comments

walterbell

Reply
adastra22  4 months ago

The hacked coins are not "free of conflicting property claims."

  • walterbell  4 months ago

    > The hacked coins are not "free of conflicting property claims."

    2023, American Bar Association, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/resources/bu...

      .. “take free” regime introduced by the 2022 UCC Amendments for these assets.  Under these rules, a person who acquires a CER for value, in good faith and without notice of any conflicting property claims, is deemed a “qualifying purchaser” and, as such, takes it free from any preexisting property claims.  

  The 2022 UCC Amendments draw heavily from the UCC Article 3 provisions for negotiable instruments, and these provisions have the effect of making CERs negotiable.  It follows that if a secured creditor obtained a security interest in CER inventory and only perfected by filing, that creditor would be at risk of the debtor disposing of the collateral and transferring control to a qualifying purchaser that would take it free from any competing claim.

    • paul_h  4 months ago

      I think you're saying this is different to theft-of-car. A stolen car could be sold/bought a number of times, but any amount of years later the car belatedly identified as the one stolen from the rightful owner means it is returned. A fraudulently created title isn't enough to protect the bagholder from having to return the car.