Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has been ordered to suspend an account holding 96 bitcoin, about $896,000, by the U.K. High Court after accusations that the owner of the account is linked to a ransomware attack targeting a firm in Canada.

According to a Jan. 17 court filing, the ransomware case involved more than 1,000 computers at an unnamed Canadian company disabled by ransomware. Those behind the attack are said to have asked for a $1.2 million payment in bitcoin in return for a key to decrypt the encrypted files on the affected computers.

A court interceding on holding bitcoin funds on a major exchange is notable enough, but the story gets even more interesting. The company had insurance against cybercrimes and deferred to its insurance company to sort out the ransomware attack. The insurance company, the litigant in the U.K. court case, negotiated with those behind the ransomware attack to pay a lower amount of bitcoin for the decryption key: 109.25 bitcoin, worth $950,000 at the time of the payment.

The decryption key was provided some 24 hours after the ransom was paid. But the insurance firm, referred to as “AA” in the court filing, hired blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis Ltd. to trace where the bitcoin payment went. Chainalysis subsequently traced 96 of the 109.25 bitcoin paid to those behind the ransomware attack to an account with Bitfinex.

Bitfinex said in a statement that it “has robust systems in place to allow it to assist law enforcement authorities and litigants in cases such as this. In this case we have assisted the Claimant to trace the stolen bitcoin and we understand the focus of the Claimant’s attention is no longer on the Bitfinex platform. It now appears Bitfinex is an entirely innocent party mixed up in this wrongdoing.”

The court also ordered that Bitfinex hand over “know your customer” information on the account, which it was ordered to suspend as well. As a licensed and legal exchange, Bitfinex is required to collect that “KYC” information before allowing new customers to open accounts.

The ruling also may set a legal precedent. New Money Review reported Saturday that the case is a landmark because it’s the first time the U.K. High Court has expressly stated that cryptocurrency assets such as bitcoin constitute property.

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