Bitcoin and other virtual assets will be officially protected by law

The 21st meeting of the 12th National People's Congress Standing Committee was held in Beijing recently. The meeting reviewed for the first time the explanation of the "General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft)" motion proposed by the Chairman's Meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Among them, there are provisions for new civil rights objects such as network virtual property and data information, which means that network virtual property and data information will officially become rights. There are two articles in the draft that involve network virtual property and data information. Article 104: Property includes real estate and movable property. If the law stipulates specific rights or network virtual property as the object of property rights, it shall be in accordance with its provisions. Article 108, paragraph 2, item 8 of the draft: (Intellectual property rights include) data information.

Previously, the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the General Principles of Civil Law on online virtual property were relatively general, but provided room for interpretation.

After the 2004 amendment to the Constitution, the protection of citizens' lawful private property was explicitly included in the Constitution. This general provision on lawful private property provides a lot of room for the interpretation of civil law property.

The General Principles of Civil Law stipulates: "Citizens' personal property includes citizens' lawful income, houses, savings, daily necessities, cultural relics, books and materials, forests, livestock, means of production that the law allows citizens to own, and other lawful property." It does not explicitly include online virtual property in personal lawful property. However, the law does not have a clear explanation for "other lawful property," which also provides room for its interpretation.

In 2013, the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly issued the "Notice on Preventing Bitcoin Risks" ( hereinafter referred to as the "Notice" ) , which provided relevant explanations on the use and transactions of Bitcoin in China.

The Notice clarifies the nature of Bitcoin, stating that Bitcoin is not issued by monetary authorities, does not have monetary attributes such as legal compensation and compulsion, and is not a real currency. In terms of nature, Bitcoin is a specific virtual commodity that does not have the same legal status as currency and cannot and should not be circulated and used as currency in the market. However, as a commodity trading behavior on the Internet, ordinary people have the freedom to participate in Bitcoin transactions at their own risk.

The notice also requires financial institutions and payment institutions not to price products or services in Bitcoin, not to buy or sell Bitcoin or act as a central counterparty to buy or sell Bitcoin, not to underwrite Bitcoin-related insurance business or include Bitcoin in the scope of insurance liability, and not to directly or indirectly provide customers with other Bitcoin-related services.

In addition, the notice also clearly requires that Internet sites that provide Bitcoin registration, trading and other services should be registered with the telecommunications management agency and fulfill anti-money laundering obligations.

OKCoin Vice President Duan Xinxing further clarified the legal status of Bitcoin: "This revision of the General Provisions of Civil Law includes digital currency network virtual assets and legal rights in the category of 'objects of property rights', which will help protect such property rights and also open up a direction for the establishment and formulation of specific rules in the future."