Is giving or receiving Bitcoin considered “commercial bribery”?

Author: Lemon Technology Big Data

Some people do not understand why Bitcoin is so popular, and think that it cannot be used to purchase goods and has no collection value. There is nothing wrong with this understanding, but people's use of Bitcoin is always beyond imagination.

As an "electronic currency", Bitcoin is different from the legal tender in the market. It does not rely on a specific monetary institution to issue it, and can be exchanged for the currencies of most countries. At the same time, there is no strict government supervision. These characteristics meet the needs of people on the edge of the gray area: for example, cross-border money laundering; for example, after bribing a government official, you hope that no one will know as much as possible; for example, when you do something for someone else and accept the reward, you don't want the tax bureau to know.

In a business cooperation, a blockchain expert was asked by the other party to give him a few bitcoins before cooperating. At this time, a question was put before us: Does giving/receiving bitcoins constitute "commercial bribery"?

What is commercial bribery?

The so-called "commercial bribery" is actually the sum of eight crimes, including: bribery of non-state officials; bribery of non-state officials; bribery; bribery of units; bribery; bribery of units; introduction of bribes; and bribery by units.

Commercial bribery is a form of unfair competition. If the amount involved is relatively large, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the amount involved is huge, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined.

Why Bitcoin?

From the perspective of its underlying technology, Bitcoin relies on blockchain technology, and its essence is a collection of data; from a judicial perspective, there is still controversy over whether Bitcoin is "currency" or "data", so there is no specific legal supervision. Using Bitcoin for bribery is not without precedent:

In March 2016, U.S. authorities accused Trevon Gross, head of Hope Credit Union in New Jersey, of accepting bribes from Bitcoin trading website coin.mx and asking the bank he was in charge of to help coin.mx conduct illegal Bitcoin exchange business.

Coinfirm, a Bitcoin company, once provided a successful anti-corruption case. The company received an anonymous report that the head of the purchasing department of a large manufacturing company was accepting Bitcoin bribes from a supplier to extend the contract period with the manufacturer without conducting a bidding.

The choice of Bitcoin is closely related to its characteristics: first, the transfer is anonymous and difficult to trace; second, it is easy to store, a backup file can be stored anywhere, unlike physical currency and gold, which are easy to be seized; finally, it is easy to exchange, you only need to open an account at the exchange, you can exchange it directly, and it is not restricted by any region.

How to determine Bitcoin bribery?

If Bitcoin is regarded as "data", it is difficult to determine the criminal behavior and object through the Criminal Law. The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate pointed out in the understanding and application of judicial interpretation that there are difficulties in applying the law to the illegal acquisition of computer information system data whose legal attributes are not yet clear. Since the issuance volume and price index are completely controlled by network operators and have no necessary connection with the price index of real society, it is difficult to formulate a scientific and reasonable method for price identification.

Of course, this does not mean that Bitcoin is unregulated and can be bought and sold at will. At the beginning of the year, facing the skyrocketing Bitcoin market, the central bank of the government issued risk warnings and business regulations to domestic Bitcoin trading platforms through interviews and other means.

Bitcoin is a product of the combination of market economy and the Internet, and has not yet obtained legal status in my country. However, in the face of new crimes derived from it, how to give virtual property an accurate legal status, within the framework of the crime law, and include virtual property in the scope of criminal law regulation, so as to solve the situation of difficulty in conviction and inconsistent conviction in the judiciary, has become an important issue.

It is predicted that in the future, as supervision becomes stricter, judicial policies will continue to improve. Regarding the behavior of asking for or giving away Bitcoin, you can refer to Article 163 of the Criminal Law: If a company, enterprise or other unit staff uses the convenience of their position to ask for or illegally accept other people's property to seek benefits for others, if the amount is large, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years or criminal detention; if the amount is huge, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years, and property may be confiscated. In practice, the behavior of taking hidden kickbacks and handling fees is suspected of crime.

The integration of technology and finance is an irreversible development trend. There is nothing wrong with Bitcoin itself, and the same is true for technology. What should really be criticized is greed.