Is virtual currency personal property
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
according to the relevant sources of Beijing Local Taxation Bureau, the tax rate of indivial income tax calculated according to the "income from property transfer" project is fixed at 20%, and Beijing Local Taxation Bureau will also introce relevant measures to verify the original value of virtual currency property sold by indivials
about virtual currency:
virtual currency refers to the substitute currency circulating in the network virtual world. In addition to the virtual currencies issued by major online game companies with various names, Tencent Q currency is also widely used
at present, the online transaction in the virtual world has greatly exceeded people's imagination, and has formed a huge online transaction market of proction, supply and marketing. Moreover, a group of professional workers specialized in "coin printing" came into being; There are also special exchange shops for various game currencies.
1. The essence of interpretation is different:
virtual currency: virtual currency refers to non real currency
currency: currency (CCY) is the medium of purchasing goods and preserving wealth. It is the contract between the owner of property and the market about the right of exchange. In essence, it is the agreement between the owners
2. Different types:
virtual currency: game currency, special currency, etc.
currency: coin, paper currency, deposit currency, etc.
extended data:
formation of virtual currency market:
Internet leads to the emergence of a new market, which is a virtual market based on cyberspace. The Internet provides a lot of communication places for consumers, and also provides business market for enterprises. Enterprises must change from proct centered to service centered to customer centered
with the development of computer artificial intelligence technology and database technology, enterprises can conveniently collect customers' information, understand customers' needs in time, change business strategies and grasp economic arteries in real time
Second, transactions prohibited by the state, especially speculation and trading of the virtual currency are prohibited in China. However, banning trading does not mean that the virtual coin itself is illegal or worthless
for example, bitcoin, which China refuses to recognize as any regional chain block currency, also forbids trading and services, does not mean that bitcoin itself has no value. In the international trading system, bitcoin is recognized in some regions, And there is a corresponding value scale
when someone steals bitcoin or swindles bitcoin, the state will still treat it as theft or fraud, and the amount needs to be approved< At present, the transaction and pricing of virtual currency are prohibited in China, but the value and holding of virtual currency itself are not prohibited. As long as the currency is not defined as illegal, it is legal.
similarly, game currency is also recognized as legal property, but its transaction is prohibited by the state, which does not affect the corresponding legal liability caused by the infringement of virtual currency
for example, the current electronic transfer is actually virtual currency
of course, paper money itself is a currency symbol, not a currency
the goods ratio is the general equivalent
nowadays, paper money or virtual currency are all transactions based on national credit or enterprise credit
in these economic activities, virtual currency acts as a measure of value and a means of circulation.