A court decision in Australia could open the door to as much as $640 million in capital gains tax (CGT) refunds on Bitcoin transactions after a judge ruled that crypto should be treated as money rather than a taxable asset. 

On May 19, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported that the decision arose within a criminal case involving federal police officer William Wheatley, who allegedly stole 81.6 Bitcoin (BTC) in 2019. At the time, the assets were worth roughly $492,000. At current market prices, the tokens are valued at more than $13 million.

In the case, Judge Michael O’Connell of Victoria ruled that Bitcoin qualifies as a form of money rather than property, likening the digital asset to Australian dollars rather than to shares, gold or foreign currency.

The interpretation could set a legal precedent, potentially placing Bitcoin transactions outside the scope of Australia’s current CGT regime.

New court ruling challenges Australian crypto tax laws

In an AFR interview, tax lawyer Adrian Cartland said the verdict “totally upends” the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) current position. 

Since 2014, the ATO has classified crypto assets as CGT assets. This means that users must pay tax when selling or trading them. Under the ATO’s guidance, any disposal of Bitcoin, including selling it for fiat, exchanging it for another crypto or using it to purchase goods or services, constitutes a CGT event. 

This framework has been the basis for taxing cryptocurrency transactions in Australia for over a decade. However, the recent ruling challenges the approach by suggesting that Bitcoin functions more like money than property. This potentially exempts it from CGT.

Related: Australian feds seize mansion, Bitcoin allegedly linked to crypto exchange hack

Tax refunds could reach $640 million

Cartland said it was held that Bitcoin is Australian money. “That is, it is not a CGT asset. Therefore, acquisitions and disposals of Bitcoin have no tax consequences,” the tax lawyer added. 

If the ruling is upheld on the appeal, Cartland estimates that there could be potential tax refunds totalling 1 billion Australian dollars ($640 million). 

However, while Cartland thinks there could be up to a billion in refunds, the ATO said there were no official figures that confirm the amount to be potentially refunded if the case changes how Bitcoin is taxed in Australia. 

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Revolut, a European neobank with crypto support, plans to invest more than 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) in France and apply for a local banking license.

According to a May 19 Fortune report, Revolut representatives announced the initiative during the Choose France business summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The London-based neobank also plans to set up its new European Union-serving headquarters in Paris, promising to invest 1 billion euro and hire at least 200 people within three years.

Revolut spokespeople also said that the firm is in the process of submitting an application to the French banking regulator Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority. According to an anonymous source cited by Fortune, the regulator has been pushing the neobank to get a license to improve supervision due to its popularity in France.

Revolut currently employs about 300 people and serves five million customers in France. This makes the nation the neobank’s top European Union market.

Related: Revolut doubles profits to $1.3B on user growth, crypto trading boom

Aiming for the stars

Revolut hopes to onboard 10 million users by the end of next year and then double that number by 2030. The firm already offers loans, trading and cryptocurrency support in its mobile-first banking platform.

The neobank has seen rapid growth ever since its founding in 2015. The company recently received a $45 billion valuation and reportedly served over 55 million customers as of late May.

Revolut’s 2024 annual report release shows that the firm’s 2024 revenue was 3.1 billion British pounds ($4 billion). A recent Financial News article also puts the company’s headcount at 10,133 employees as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Related: Revolut expands crypto exchange to 30 new markets in Europe

An increasingly regulated institution

Revolut obtained its UK banking license in late July 2024, where 11 million of its customers are located. Now, the neobank is aggressively looking to obtain similar permits across other jurisdictions, with 10 applications underway.

Revolut received the Prepaid Payment Instruments license from India’s central bank earlier this month. This license allows the bank to offer multi-currency forex cards and cross-border remittance services in India.

EU-based Revolut customers now leverage its Lithuania operations. The firm received a banking license in Lithuania at the end of 2018, enabling it to serve customers across the European Economic Area better.

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Crypto investment products in the United States have attracted over $7.5 billion worth of investment in 2025, with a fifth week of net positive inflows last week signaling growing investor demand for digital assets.

US-based crypto investment products attracted $785 million worth of investment last week, pushing the year-to-date (YTD) total to over $7.5 billion, according to a May 19 report by digital asset manager CoinShares.

The latest figure marks the fifth consecutive week of net positive flows, following nearly $7 billion in outflows during February and March.

Weekly crypto asset flows, USD, million. Source: CoinShares

The United States accounted for the bulk of inflows, with $681 million, followed by Germany at $86.3 million and Hong Kong at $24.4 million.

Crypto flows by country. Source: CoinShares

Investor demand for risk assets such as cryptocurrencies staged a significant recovery after the White House announced a 90-day pause on additional tariffs on May 12, which marked a 24% cut for import tariffs for both the US and China.

A day after the announcement, Coinbase exchange saw 9,739 Bitcoin (BTC) worth more than $1 billion withdrawn from the exchange — the highest net outflow recorded in 2025, signaling that institutional appetite was “accelerating,” according to Bitwise head of European research, André Dragosch.

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Ethereum leads with $205 million in weekly inflows

Ether (ETH) was the top performer among crypto investment products, attracting $205 million in inflows last week. That brings its year-to-date total to more than $575 million.

The report attributed the $200 million to renewed investor optimism following the successful Pectra upgrade and the appointment of new co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak.

After initial delays, Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade went live on the mainnet on May 7, introducing improvements such as higher staking limits and account abstraction via EIP-7702.

By contrast, Solana (SOL) investment products were the only major assets to see net outflows, with $890,000 withdrawn over the past week.

Related: Bitcoin breaks out while Coinbase breaks down: Finance Redefined

Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a proposal to preserve trustless, censorship-resistant access to Ethereum, aiming to make Ethereum layer-1 scaling “more friendly” to users running local nodes for personal use. 

“The plan would drastically reduce the 1.3TB data burden by allowing nodes to sync only relevant information, opening the door to broader participation,” Stella Zlatareva, Nexo Dispatch editor, told Cointelegraph.

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