Q coins, Bitcoin and other online virtual properties will be officially protected by law

TechWeb reported on June 29 that 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)" 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.

Q coins, Bitcoin and other online virtual properties will be officially protected by law

There are two articles in the draft that involve online virtual property and data information.

Article 104: Property includes real property and movable property. Where the law stipulates that specific rights or online virtual property are the objects of property rights, such provisions shall apply.

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 tender 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. (Wang Kaka)