A Swiss investor stated KuCoin has but to pay a Seychelles Supreme Court docket award of greater than $2 million after the change declared his tokens “deserted.”
In a Dec. 11, 2025, ruling, the Supreme Court docket of Seychelles declared that Didier Rabl is the “sole proprietor and proprietor” of roughly 21 million CoinPoker (CHP) tokens beforehand held for him on KuCoin. The court docket additionally ordered three Seychelles-incorporated KuCoin entities to pay him over 2 million USDt (USDT) plus $10,000 in ethical damages, in response to paperwork reviewed by Cointelegraph.
The ruling might have implications for a way cryptocurrency exchanges deal with delisted property, with the court docket discovering that KuCoin didn’t turn into the useful proprietor of Rabl’s tokens and remained obligated to safeguard the property and honor lawful withdrawal requests.
KuCoin’s Seychelles entities didn’t seem or defend the case.
Copies of emails reviewed by Cointelegraph present that KuCoin despatched Rabl a sequence of delisting notices in 2021, warning that withdrawals of CHP would shut on July 28 of that 12 months. The emails acknowledged that any unwithdrawn funds can be deemed “deserted” with “no rights to say again.”
Court docket Order. Supply: Seychelles Supreme Court docket
The court docket discovered that every one the emails “remained unread and unanswered” and that KuCoin delisted CHP “with out making any additional try to notify the Plaintiff by put up, phone, or any different means.”
Seychelles FSA confirms receipt of KuCoin judgment
The court docket held {that a} unilateral delisting electronic mail with “deemed to have deserted” wording was not enough to take away a buyer’s rights to tokens already of their account when no such forfeiture time period was within the unique contract.
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KuCoin’s phrases of use on the time gave the platform broad powers to droop or terminate accounts and to restrict its legal responsibility, however didn’t explicitly state that unwithdrawn tokens after a delisting turn into KuCoin’s property.
A blockchain evaluation report shared with Cointelegraph traced actions of the legacy Ethereum CHP token and recognized an tackle labeled “KuCoin 6” on Etherscan that holds 21,000,000.0509 CHP, or about 5.9% of the overall provide.
The Supreme Court docket directed its Registrar to serve the judgment on Seychelles’ Monetary Companies Authority (FSA).
In a written response to Cointelegraph, an FSA spokesperson confirmed it had acquired the judgment and stated Mek International Ltd, the KuCoin-linked firm that utilized for a digital asset service supplier (VASP) licence, had its utility rejected on June 4, 2025, and was required to stop all enterprise performed in or from Seychelles.
The FSA additionally revealed a public assertion noting that Peken International Restricted, one of many defendants within the case, opted emigrate its providers outdoors Seychelles following the rejection of the appliance.
Below Seychelles’ Digital Asset Service Suppliers Act, licensed exchanges are required to segregate consumer property and preserve them at a 100% reserve, the spokesperson stated.
Supply: Seychelles Ministry of Finance
Authorized professional highlights limits of ex parte judgment
Joshua Chu, co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Affiliation, and a lawyer who has dealt with Seychelles-related arbitration, instructed Cointelegraph, “It ought to be famous from the outset that this judgment was determined totally ex parte,” stating that KuCoin’s entities “by no means appeared, by no means defended, and by no means submitted to jurisdiction.” Justice N. Burian’s choice is “first occasion solely,” he stated, with “no binding drive outdoors Seychelles.”
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Chu stated the court docket proceeded on the premise that the exchange-customer relationship was “at minimal contractual, obliging the change to safeguard the property and to honor lawful withdrawal directions.”
In precept, a VASP’s unexplained failure to adjust to a last Supreme Court docket order regarding buyer property would sit uneasily with requirements of integrity, cooperation with courts and regulators, and respect for consumer property, Chu stated. He added that “a defendant in future contested proceedings might argue that its factual assumptions are incomplete,” and that the results would depend upon any appellate course of.
Rabl instructed Cointelegraph he has not acquired any fee from the Seychelles entities named within the judgment and is getting ready extra authorized motion in Seychelles geared toward imposing the award and doubtlessly looking for extra damages.
KuCoin didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark from Cointelegraph.
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