Does stealing a “digital wallet” password really constitute theft?

Does stealing someone else’s virtual currency “digital wallet” password constitute theft?

Since virtual currencies such as BTC have great economic value, the theft of virtual currencies also occurs from time to time in practice. So, does stealing the password of someone else's virtual currency "wallet" constitute the crime of theft? This issue is highly controversial in both theoretical and practical circles. On the one hand, the purpose of the perpetrator stealing someone else's virtual currency "wallet" is to steal the virtual currency of others with certain property attributes, which to a certain extent meets the constituent elements of theft; on the other hand, the password of the virtual currency "wallet" itself belongs to computer information system data and has no value in itself. From this aspect, it also meets the constituent elements of the crime of illegally intruding into computer information systems.

So, how does the practical world view this type of crime? Today , the Sajie team will share with you a real case to analyze how the act of stealing other people's virtual currency "wallet" passwords is handled in judicial practice , hoping to provide readers with some new thinking and new ideas.

Tian is guilty of illegally obtaining computer information system data

(Case number: (2020) Ji 1102 Xing Chu 500)

In August 2019, the victim Liu was preparing to invest in "Bitcoin" and met the defendant Tian, ​​who had invested in "Tether", through a friend's introduction. That month, Tian helped Liu invest more than 2.57 million yuan to buy 35 "Bitcoins" and downloaded "Bitpie Wallet" and "Imtohen Wallet" on Liu's mobile phone to store "Bitcoins". During this operation, Tian obtained 12 English mnemonics and login passwords to open the above-mentioned "wallets".

In October 2019, the defendant Tian used the mnemonic phrase and login password he had obtained to entrust an internet user named Liu to enter the computer system and operate it. He transferred 35 "bitcoins" in Liu's "wallet" to his own "Bitpie wallet" and sold 9 of them. The stolen money was used for personal consumption at home.

The court held that the defendant Tian violated state regulations, illegally invaded another person’s computer information system, and obtained data stored in the information system. The circumstances were particularly serious and his actions constituted the crime of illegally obtaining data from a computer information system.

Does Tian’s behavior constitute the crime of theft?

According to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the crime of theft refers to: stealing public or private property in large amounts, or multiple thefts, burglary, theft with a weapon, and pickpocketing.

At first glance, Tian's behavior constitutes theft. Tian stole the password of another person's virtual currency "wallet" for the purpose of illegally occupying other people's property, and according to the market value of Bitcoin in October 2019 when the case occurred, it has long exceeded the standard of "large amount". Bitcoin itself has property attributes, and the "wallet" password is the key to the possession, use, and disposal of Bitcoin. To a certain extent, the Bitcoin wallet password can be closely linked to the virtual currency itself. If it can be considered that the wallet "password" is closely related to the virtual currency itself. Therefore, from this perspective, Tian's behavior can constitute theft.

But we also noticed that what Tian stole was the login password of someone else's virtual currency "wallet" rather than directly stealing the Bitcoin in the wallet. The password itself has no value and should be considered computer information system data . Therefore, Tian may have committed the crime of illegally obtaining computer information system data as stipulated in Article 285 of the Criminal Law.

It is more appropriate to evaluate it as the crime of illegally obtaining computer information system data

The crime of illegally obtaining computer information system data is stipulated in Article 258 of the Criminal Law and the judicial interpretation "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases Involving Endangering the Security of Computer Information Systems". The specific provisions are: According to Article 258 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the crime of illegally obtaining computer information system data refers to: violating state regulations, intruding into computer information systems other than computer information systems in the fields of national affairs, national defense construction, and cutting-edge science and technology, or adopting other technical means to obtain data stored, processed or transmitted in the computer information system, or exercising illegal control over the computer information system.

We believe that since digital currency has exchange value, but there are disputes about whether it is property, data or something else, the act of stealing digital currency will involve the crime of theft and the crime of illegal intrusion into computer information systems. There are practical precedents that mainstream currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are special virtual commodities, which are property under the criminal law and are also data. Therefore, stealing the corresponding virtual currency will violate the crime of theft and the crime of illegally obtaining computer information system data and illegally controlling computer information systems at the same time. According to the rule of imaginary competition, one of the more serious crimes will be sentenced ; there are also practical precedents based on the principle of proportionality between crime and punishment to avoid excessive punishment, or to avoid the difficulty of solving the problems of sealing, seizure, and returning stolen goods after virtual currency is identified as property . The act of stealing virtual currency is only considered to constitute the crime of illegally obtaining computer information system data and illegally controlling computer information systems.

Final Thoughts

In criminal justice practice, conviction determines sentencing. How the criminal law evaluates individual behavior determines whether it should be punished and whether the punishment is light or heavy. Therefore, we have to comprehensively consider the social harm, infringement of legal interests, punishability, subjective malice and the actual damage caused by the nature of individual behavior. Due to the wide variety of virtual currencies and the great fluctuations in market prices, the principle of proportionality between crime and punishment should be followed in the process of identifying crimes, and we should be extremely cautious in order to comply with the basic spirit of criminal law to protect human rights.