In 2026 the UK Court of Appeal ruled that virtual gold in Old School RuneScape counts as property under the Theft Act 1968, so owners can pursue theft claims. The decision follows allegations that a former Jagex employee, Andrew Lakeman, removed 705 billion gold pieces and sold them for Bitcoin and fiat worth about $748,000.
In his ruling, Lord Justice Popplewell stated that the gold pieces are “assets which have an ascertainable monetary value and which may be traded for that value both in the game and outside the game.” This finding allowed an appeal against an earlier judgment to proceed.
Popplewell rejected the earlier view that an uncapped supply made the gold non-rivalrous. He noted unlimited production does not stop transfers causing dispossession, comparing the items to paper clips.
Prosecutors say Lakeman accessed 68 player accounts, removed the gold, then sold it for Bitcoin and cash. He faces five indictments, including theft, computer misuse and money laundering.
Lawyer Ashley Fairbrother explained the criminal law point, saying “That ‘property’ in s.4 Theft Act 1968 is an autonomous criminal-law concept and need not track civil-law property, seems to me, to be both well founded and necessary in this modern world.” She also noted that “[Bitcoin] has been considered property by English Courts ever since the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce Legal Statement came to this view in 2019.”
The Court of Appeal ruling narrows legal barriers to treating in-game virtual items as criminal-law property.
