The Singapore International Commercial Court has imposed an interim proprietary injunction freezing approximately S$75 million ($58 million) in Bitcoin (BTC) and USD Coin (USDC) amid a dispute between an unnamed major digital asset trading platform and a customer who has used the service since around 2013.
Court documents identify the parties only as DVA, DVB and DVC, and the case is listed as DVA and another v DVC [2026] SGHC(I) 4. The claimant platform is described as one of the world’s largest digital-asset trading operations.
The dispute traces back to two specialized self-custody wallets that once contained 2,500 BTC and 2,500 Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Support for the wallet product ended in April 2018, but customers retained some access through an unsupported open-source tool. According to the judgment, the entire 2,500 BTC and 2,500 BCH balance was moved away in March 2020, but a technical problem allegedly prevented those withdrawals from being recorded correctly on the platform’s internal ledgers. The platform therefore continued to treat the customer as entitled to the balances.
In July 2024, acting on the faulty ledger records, a relationship manager used an automated remediation tool and transferred another 2,500 BTC and 2,500 BCH from the platform group’s omnibus holdings to the customer. The claimants say those assets were transferred solely because of the mistaken balance shown on the internal system.
The customer later moved part of the crypto. Court records show that on July 13, 2024, he converted 20 BTC into about 816,773 USDC and sent the stablecoins to an unhosted wallet. Five withdrawals between July 17 and Nov. 10 moved another 380 BTC, and further transfers on Nov. 24 and Jan. 7, 2025 brought the amount sent to a third external wallet to 400 BTC. Some 150 BTC from that wallet was later moved elsewhere in February 2026, making part of the trail harder to trace.
The platform discovered the alleged error in January 2025, froze the remaining 1,700 BTC and 2,500 BCH on Jan. 29, 2025, and re-credited those assets to itself. The customer, however, refused to return the approximately 780 BTC and 816,773 USDC that had already left the platform.
The freezing and disclosure order was granted on March 26 by Singapore High Court Justice Aidan Xu and SICC International Judges Anthony Meagher and David Goddard. The injunction prevents the customer from disposing of, dealing with or reducing the value of the disputed assets, and requires him to disclose where the assets and their proceeds are held. The court refused for now to allow the platform to use that disclosure to seek similar injunctions in other jurisdictions.
The claimants’ 62-page statement of claim advances causes of action including unjust enrichment, a proprietary claim, deceit or negligent misrepresentation, and breach of contract. They are seeking a declaration that the defendant holds the disputed assets on constructive trust. The defendant disputes the platform’s account, maintains the crypto was rightfully his, and has counterclaimed for the assets that remain frozen or equivalent compensation.
Observers have drawn parallels to previous exchange errors, including the Bithumb incident in which customers withdrew tokens that were wrongfully sent after an employee mistake. The Singapore courts have also handled several high-value crypto disputes over the past year, including proceedings involving Binance, RedotPay and WazirX’s Singapore-based parent Zettai.
