Stealing BTC

1.

According to the news on February 10, 2018, on September 4, 2017, seven ministries and commissions of the people's Republic of China issued the notice on preventing the financing risk of token issuance, which regulates the issuance of tokens. In the notice, the nature of all kinds of tokens and "virtual currency" is clearly defined: it is not issued by the monetary authority, and it has no monetary attributes such as legal compensation and mandatory, It does not have the same legal status as currency and cannot and should not be used as currency in the market. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that all kinds of "virtual currency" still have a certain property value and are part of the property of the holder. So, how to identify the nature of the theft of such tokens

In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of "virtual token" holders, the author intends to discuss such issues through a relevant news report and relevant cases

stealing bitcoin

recently, a news report said that Haidian police in Beijing cracked a case of destroying computer information system. The suspect Zhong used his administrator's authority to modify the company's computer applications and steal 100 bitcoins. Before he could sell the stolen money, Zhong was arrested by the police. At present, Zhong was detained for the crime of destroying computer information system

it can be seen from the report that the police detained the perpetrator for stealing bitcoin on suspicion of damaging the computer information system. The crime of destroying the computer information system stipulated in Article 286 of the criminal law of our country refers to the act of deleting, modifying, adding or interfering with the functions of the computer information system in violation of the provisions of the state, resulting in the abnormal operation of the computer information system and serious consequences, or deleting, modifying or interfering with the data and application programs stored, processed or transmitted in the computer information system Modifying or adding operations with serious consequences, or deliberately making or spreading destructive programs such as computer viruses, which affect the normal operation of the computer system with serious consequences

In the author's opinion, this crime is one of the crimes of impairing social management order in Chapter 6 of the criminal law, that is, the legal interest protected by this crime is actually the public order of our society, not the property interests of the digital currency holders, which in fact denies the property value of digital currency, It is only protected as a data or system function in a computer system. The author thinks that there is some irrationality in this way

first of all, in the notice on the prevention of bitcoin risk issued in 2013, it is mentioned that bitcoin is not a real currency because it is not issued by the monetary authority and does not have such monetary attributes as legal compensation and compulsion. Bitcoin has four main characteristics: no centralized issuers, limited amount, no geographical restrictions and anonymity. Because it belongs to a specific virtual commodity in nature The notice also clearly mentioned that bitcoin does not have the same legal status as currency and should not be used as currency in the market. However, as a virtual commodity, the property value behind bitcoin cannot be ignored

Secondly, Article 127 of the general provisions of the civil law, which came into effect on October 1 last year, stipulates that if the law has provisions on the protection of data and network virtual property, such provisions shall prevail. Although only the protection of the network virtual property has made the principle provisions, but it can not be denied that this shows our country's attitude towards the protection of the network virtual property. Although there is no special law for the protection of data and network virtual property in China, from the perspective of the general provisions of civil law, it is predicted that there will be relevant legislation in the future

finally, from the relevant cases, we can also see the recognition of the property attribute of virtual currency such as bitcoin in China's judicial practice. In April and may 2013, Liu premeditated to set up a bitcoin trading platform, so he recruited Jin and Huang (both sentenced) to jointly set up a "bitcoin" trading platform. During this period, Liu, Huang, Jin, Jin and the defendant he, in addition to other acts of directly stealing customers' funds, also frequently cashed RMB by selling customers' bitcoins, and transferred 120 bitcoins from the website. Finally, the court convicted and punished the defendant for fraud, and the bitcoin transferred by the defendant was also included in the property loss of the victim. Therefore, from the judicial cases, we can also get the recognition of the property attributes of virtual currency such as bitcoin

based on the above reasons, the author thinks that it may be unreasonable to regulate the theft of virtual currency only as the crime of damaging computer information system. We should face up to the hidden property value and consider the application of the crime of infringing property in China's criminal law. Only in this way can we effectively protect the legitimate rights and property of digital currency holders in China

2. The most recent case of bitcoin theft is bitfinex theft. Bitfinex theft is the most serious case of bitcoin loss since the infamous loss of 744408btc (worth US $350 million) in the Mt. go incident in Japan in 2014, which eventually led to the collapse of Mt. GOx. Domestic trading platform has no similar big accident, I played in the fire coin for more than two years, there has been no problem.

3. It's illegal to steal bitcoin. The public security bureau can arrest you. There are also many cases of fraud using bitcoin. In China, the central bank defines bitcoin as a special Internet commodity, which denies its monetary attribute, but people can buy and sell it freely at their own risk. Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the central bank, said that bitcoin is a tradable asset, just like stamps. Now, do you think it's illegal to steal bitcoin?

4. According to Article 92 of the criminal law of our country, the property privately owned by citizens as mentioned in this Law refers to the following properties: (1) citizens' lawful income, savings, houses and other means of living 2 Means of proction owned by indivials and families according to law 3 Legal property of self-employed and private enterprises 4 Shares, stocks, bonds and other property owned by indivials according to law
from the point of view of the crime of illegally obtaining computer information system data, bitcoin, as a virtual property, does not belong to other property stipulated in Article 92 of the criminal law, and is not the "property" protected by theft. In my opinion, this conclusion does not pay attention to the value attribute of virtual property, and can not adapt to the development of information network era
first, although Article 92 of the criminal law stipulates the crime of property, it does not specify the existing forms and types of property, let alone the tangible and intangible of property. On the contrary, the provision of "other property" provides space for interpretation of bitcoin, an intangible property
Second, article 265 of the criminal law stipulates that anyone who, for the purpose of making profits, stealthily connects another person's communication lines, copies another person's telecommunication codes or signals, or knowingly uses the stealthily connected or copied telecommunication equipment or facilities shall be convicted and punished for the crime of theft. The Supreme People's court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate clearly take electric power, gas, tap water and other properties as the objects of theft in the interpretation on Several Issues concerning the application of law in handling criminal cases of theft. In this case, the object of protection of larceny is not limited to tangible objects, but can contain intangible objects, even property interests
thirdly, although virtual property is attached to cyberspace, it has certain conversion methods and transaction rules with real property. Therefore, the virtual form does not mean the virtual value. On the contrary, it represents the real property of the obligee. In addition, the protection of legal interest of theft is the ownership of property or the actual possession of property. Because the carrier of bitcoin is data, the obligee can control, possess and dispose of bitcoin according to certain operation mode
fourthly, bitcoin is interpreted as property, not by analogy. The difference between analogical interpretation and extended interpretation lies in whether it goes beyond the possible scope of literal meaning. With the increasing importance of data, virtual property has been widely known and put into the legal system as a new type of property. As a typical representative of virtual property, bitcoin is used as a token, which is far from the game virtual currency. Even if bitcoin is interpreted as property, it does not exceed the possibility of ordinary people's prediction of "property"
bitcoin, as a virtual property, meets the requirements of "property" in criminal law and has the property nature. Therefore, in the case of bitcoin theft, it is more reasonable to regulate it by theft.

5.

Bitcoin is a kind of virtual commodity. In recent years, the price of bitcoin has been soaring. Recently, after more than three months of investigation, the Public Security Bureau of Zhongyuan Oilfield in Henan Province successfully cracked the first case of bitcoin theft in China

on July 27 this year, the Public Security Bureau of Zhongyuan Oilfield in Henan Province received an alarm from Wu, a resident under his jurisdiction, saying that he had lost more than 3.4 million yuan worth of bitcoin in his Internet wallet. Wu is a professional investor and has been investing in bitcoin since 2016. In early 2017, he was drawn into a wechat group of bitcoin investors

the victim Wu: at the end of the day, he said he was also responsible. Although he said that he taught me to lose my coin, he was also kind-hearted. He said that he would compensate me for 10 (bitcoin), saying that he could only bear his part of the responsibility. Later, he used Alipay to transfer money to me. If it had nothing to do with him, how could he casually accompany others for more than 100000, not a small number

after cracking the password stealing software, the police arrested the suspect

after preliminary investigation, the police determined that Dai, the leader of wechat group, was suspected of committing a major crime. On August 9 this year, the police controlled Dai in Shanghai. In Dai's home, the police found 27 bank cards and multiple computers. In one computer, as like as two peas, the police found a net wallet software that was exactly the same as the victim's use. p>

it turns out that Dai is proficient in software programming. After cracking the downloaded genuine wallet software, he adds a program to transmit user name and password to steal bitcoin. Once someone deposits bitcoin in the E-wallet, he will know the other party's account name and password, and transfer bitcoin in the E-wallet. He distributed the stolen bitcoin in hundreds of network wallets, transferred it back and forth, and sold it at a low price on the trading platform after confirming its security. In this way, Dai has committed three crimes involving more than 20 million yuan. At present, the police have found out Dai's account and frozen it, recovering more than 2 million yuan of stolen money

according to the police, bitcoin is a virtual commodity, which is difficult to be recovered once there is a problem in the transaction

Su Haizhou, leader of Criminal Investigation Detachment of Henan Zhongyuan Oilfield Public Security Bureau: bitcoin trading platform our country has closed all three platforms before the end of October 2017. At present, the country only recognizes bitcoin as a virtual commodity, not as a virtual currency. So you need to be careful if you want to invest in bitcoin

6. Bitcoin cold wallet is a kind of bitcoin storage method that user account and personal key are stored separately
Hot wallets usually refer to bitcoin online wallets, where the user's personal account and password information are all stored on a network platform; Website platform provides security for users
coin pack is a professional website platform providing bitcoin wallet service, which has two storage modes: cold wallet and hot wallet; Overall, the user evaluation is good.

7. blockchain applies the underlying architecture of bitcoin. You need to understand the mining mechanism of bitcoin first to understand what is blockchain! At present, the project is relatively hot, Alipay's ant clothing, ant commonweal, Tencent's public service search, and so on, are using block chain technology! It has the advantages of decentralization and traceability. But blockchain is really a great technology

8. Hello, the object of theft and robbery is not only currency in circulation
bitcoin, as a special Internet commodity, has its cash value and belongs to other people's legitimate property. If the amount of stolen property is large, it constitutes theft and should be investigated for criminal responsibility
similarly, robbing other people's legitimate property will also constitute a crime of robbery
I hope your question has been solved.

9.

Recently, Haidian police in Beijing cracked a case of destroying computer information system. The suspect Zhong used his administrator's authority to modify the company's computer applications, stealing 100 bitcoins, worth millions of yuan. Before he could sell the stolen goods, Zhong was arrested by the police. At present, Zhong was detained for the crime of destroying computer information system

according to the police, after stealing bitcoin, Zhong originally wanted to go to a foreign website to sell it. Because he didn't know which website could operate, he found an application of "bitcoin wallet" on the Internet and saved the stolen 100 bitcoins. It was said that there was also a "core money package", which could clear the track of stealing, and then moved 10 bitcoins to deposit. After the police work, Zhong returned the remaining 90 bitcoins to the company, but the 10 bitcoins stored in the "core wallet" could not be found

At present, the suspect Zhong has been detained by Haidian police for the crime of destroying computer information system, and the case is under further trial