In one of the first cases in Hong Kong in which the court has granted freezing injunctions over bitcoins, the Court of First Instance has now handed down judgment in the trial of Nico Constantijn v Stive Jean-Paul Dan [2022] HKCFI 1254. The court held that the defendant acted as the plaintiff’s sales agent in respect of the plaintiff’s bitcoins. The court found the defendant had breached his fiduciary duties in failing to account to the plaintiff for the bitcoins and the relevant sales proceeds. Consequently, the court held that the defendant held on trust for the plaintiff the unsold bitcoins, the proceeds from the sale of the bitcoins and the fruits thereof.

There has been a rise in cases in which The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited suspends trading in issuers’ shares because they have failed to comply with Rule 13.24 of the Main Board Listing Rules. Rule 13.24 requires an issuer to maintain a sufficient level of operations and assets of sufficient value to support its operations to warrant the continued listing of the issuer’s securities. The Court of Appeal in China Trends Holdings Limited v The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited [2021] HKCA 980 again upheld the Stock Exchange’s decision to suspend trading in an issuer’s shares pursuant to the equivalent of Rule 13.24 under the GEM Listing Rules. The Court of Appeal highlighted the court’s reluctance to interfere with the market regulators’ application of Rule 13.24 and clarified the application of this rule.

In Securities and Futures Commission v Yiu Hoi Ying Charles and Others (FACV5/2018), the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) handed down a landmark decision on the innocent purpose defence under section 271(3) of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO). The CFA ruled that the respondents “used” the price sensitive information (PSI) when they sold…

Under the new Apology Ordinance, the evidence of an apology is not admissible in any judicial, arbitral, administrative, disciplinary and regulatory proceedings for determining fault or liability.