Can bitcoin be stolen
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 casesstealing 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 wayfirst 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 futurefinally, 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
stolen
mark kalpler, chief executive of mt.gox, bowed his apology at a news conference held in Tokyo yesterday, saying that "the loss of bitcoin is e to a loophole in the company's system"
a lawyer for Mt. GOx said that almost all the bitcoins traded on the platform were stolen, including about 750000 bitcoins in the user's trading account and about 100000 bitcoins in Mt. GOx's own account. According to the trading on February 28, the loss is estimated to be about $467 million
according to media reports, mt.gox trading platform had more than 1 million accounts at its peak, mainly from customers outside Japan, including many users trading more than US $10000. Some bitcoin investors have rushed to Tokyo from overseas in an attempt to recover trading funds from Mt. GOx
on February 7, e to hacker attacks, mt.gox temporarily stopped the bitcoin extraction business, causing transaction confusion and user dissatisfaction. From the noon of February 25, users cannot log in to mt.gox trading platform. The home page of the website then pasted a "notice to customers" to suspend all transactions
Li, a native of Hefei, spent 140000 yuan to buy 124 bitcoins in October this year. Afterwards, Li joined some chat groups of bitcoin players to pay close attention to the bitcoin market. On October 22, a person named Michael in the group took the initiative to chat with Li and asked him if he was mining“ I won't, and I won't get any money. " Mr. Li replied. Michael repeatedly urged Li to have a try and sent him a "mining tool", claiming that he could use the tool to dig more bitcoin. In the subsequent chat, Michael constantly reminds Li to put bitcoin in his wallet, saying that the trading website is not safe“ From time to time, there are news that trading websites are closing down and running away. What he said is quite reasonable, so I believe him. " Li told Anhui Business Daily
100 bitcoins disappeared
Li received and installed mining tools. On the evening of October 26, he was inced by Michael to put 100 bitcoins in his wallet. However, when the bitcoin in the E-wallet just reached 100, it suddenly disappeared. Li suddenly panic God, and then contact Michael, the convenience of invisible disappeared
Li told reporters that at present, a bitcoin costs about 5000 or 6000 yuan, and 100 bitcoins are worth 500000 or 600000 yuan. Afterwards, Li reported the case to the police. However, to Li's disappointment, because bitcoin is a virtual currency, there is no relevant domestic law to regulate and protect its transactions. The police did not file a case“ Now, this man named Michael is still active on the Internet. He's just taking advantage of the law. " Li told Anhui Business Daily
there is a Trojan horse in "mining tools"
How could Li's bitcoin disappear? 360 security engineer contacted him and tested Michael's "mining tool", and found that this tool is a very popular "bitcoin robber" Trojan horse this year. According to the analysis of 360 security center, most of the "bitcoin thieves" Trojans are disguised as mining tools, simplified wallets and other compressed files. Once a player is recruited, the Trojan will automatically search for bitcoin wallets and steal them through e-mail, hacker remote control and other means.
March 25 (Xinhua) Zhong, an employee of an Internet technology company in Haidian District of Beijing, took advantage of his position to steal 100 bitcoins from the company by inserting codes with the permission of the administrator to modify the application program in the company's server. Reporters learned from the 24 people's Procuratorate of Haidian District, Beijing, that the procuratorial organ approved the arrest of the suspect according to the law on suspicion of illegally obtaining the data of computer information system. P>
the prosecutor of the case, Ji Jingling, said that according to the criminal law of the People's Republic of China and the relevant laws and regulations, the suspect, Zhong Mou, violated the state regulations and used technical means to acquire data stored in the computer information system. His behavior had violated the criminal law and was suspected of illegally obtaining data from computer information system. The procuratorial organ has approved the arrest of the suspect Zhong Mou according to law. p>
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.
if you don't know "private key", it's a problem in another field. What you are worried about shows that you understand a little bit, but you still need to go deeper. Learning while thinking, progress will be very fast.
the law does not prohibit the sale of virtual currency, so it can.