Bittrex Global has asked the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for special leave to appeal in its long-running legal battle over customer cryptocurrency assets, extending one of Bermuda’s most important digital asset cases.

The application comes after Bermuda's Court of Appeal refused the company’s request for leave to appeal following its March ruling on the ownership of digital assets held by the failed exchange.

The Court of Appeal found that about $63 million in unclaimed cryptocurrency held by Bittrex Global remained the property of customers and could not be distributed to the company's sole shareholder.

The ruling clarified how client assets must be treated under Bermuda’s Digital Asset Business Act and was widely viewed as establishing an major precedent for the island's digital asset industry.

The appeal court held that digital assets held in hosted wallets are still customer property and that contractual terms cannot override statutory protections that require clients’ assets to be safeguarded and segregated.

While Bittrex's application to the Privy Council is pending, the liquidation is still moving forward. In a separate ruling issued in May, the Supreme Court authorised the joint liquidators to transfer the company's digital assets to a new custodian and start converting them into fiat currency after finding that it was the only practical way to complete the liquidation.

The court noted that Bittrex Global Inc had an outstanding application for leave to appeal directly to the Privy Council but allowed the process to proceed.

The move came as the service agreement for the Andromeda platform, which held the assets, was due to expire on May 28. The liquidators told the court the cost of maintaining the platform had risen from $600,000 a month to $1.5 million under a new agreement, meaning they needed to proceed with the conversion to complete the liquidation.

Rejecting Bittrex Global’s argument that the assets should remain in crypto pending further proceedings, Puisne Court Judge Andrew Martin said there was no proof that waiting would benefit customers and observed: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

The original dispute centred on whether the unclaimed digital assets could be treated as surplus assets of the company after its liquidation. The Court of Appeal rejected that argument, ruling that the assets must instead be dealt with in accordance with Bermuda law.

Bittrex Global entered liquidation in 2024 after winding down its operations. The dispute has also generated separate litigation involving the Bermuda Monetary Authority, although the Privy Council application stems from the liquidation proceedings over the treatment of customer assets.

The Royal Gazette contacted Bittrex Global seeking comment on its Privy Council application and the outcome it hopes to achieve but had not received a response by press time.