thecoinrepublic.com
- Officials from law enforcement, the judiciary, and academic circles met in Shanghai recently to discuss virtual currency in the midst of China’s continuing crackdown on cryptocurrency mining, trading, and other related activities
- In recent years, there has been an increase in activity in the field of blockchain-based virtual currencies, according to participants
- Professor Lingling noted that the Chinese government has long advocated for more financial oversight and has a zero-tolerance attitude for activities that jeopardize the national financial security
In the midst of China’s ongoing crackdown on cryptocurrency mining, trading, and other related activities, officials from law enforcement, the judiciary, and academic circles gathered in Shanghai recently to discuss virtual currency. The discussion focused on issues such as applicable legislation and oversight, as well as the difficulties of providing a legal definition for cryptocurrencies.
The event was organized by the Shanghai Prosecutor’s Office, the People’s Court, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau’s legal team, and the East China University of Political Science and Law’s Financial Supervision and Criminal Governance Research Center. The Shanghai Prosecutor’s Office’s Banking and Insurance Financial Crime Research Center also took part in the discussions, which also addressed financial concerns connected with decentralized money. The Shanghai Prosecutor’s Office stated Monday that more than 50 experts and academics from the city’s public security agencies, judicial institutions, and academia attended the event.
Wang Jianping, department director of the Shanghai People’s Procuratorate, hosted the event. Prosecutor General Chen Siqun said in his opening comments that financial security is an essential component of national security and that avoiding systemic financial hazards is a top concern for authorities in Shanghai, a worldwide financial center. In addition, Chen Siqun stated that they have a responsibility and an obligation to aggressively respond to the dangers posed by various financial innovations, as well as to lead the way in researching regulatory concerns… harmonize financial justice norms and make recommendations for financial oversight. The event focused on two key topics that cryptocurrency’s legal characteristics and oversight, as well as legislation dealing with digital asset-related crimes. In recent years, there has been an increase in activity in the field of blockchain-based virtual currencies, according to participants. This has resulted in a number of incidents of crypto theft, robbery, and extortion, as well as illicit fund-raising and money laundering violations in China’s legal system.
The legal status of cryptocurrency remains undefined, according to Mao Lingling, director of the Financial Regulation and Criminal Governance Research Center and professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, and the treatment of crypto-related offenses as property crimes causes controversy. She said that virtual currency is a new form of property that involves computer data and may be utilized for money laundering, illicit fundraising, and securities issuance.
If a digital coin has economic value, a crime involving it should be handled as a property crime, and if it doesn’t, it should be treated as a computer crime, according to her. Professor Lingling noted that the Chinese government has long advocated for more financial oversight and has a zero-tolerance attitude for activities that jeopardize national financial security. She cautioned that the growth of virtual currencies, particularly privately produced coins in limitless numbers, poses a danger to China’s financial stability and that relevant authorities should pay close attention and improve oversight.
At this time, crimes involving virtual currency primarily include those involving virtual currency as the direct object of infringement, investment object, settlement method, and money laundering method, as well as those associated with virtual currency transaction activities and initial coin offering activities, according to the Shanghai Prosecutor’s Office in its event report.
The fact that different judicial departments in China have varied understandings of the legal characteristics of the various forms of virtual currency is a big concern. Some refer to them as data, while others see them as property. As a result, sentences for comparable offenses using cryptocurrency are frequently disparate. Yu Haisong, head of the Crime Division at the Supreme People’s Court Research Office, pointed out that virtual money has property qualities, although it’s unclear if they’re property exclusively. Where the law includes rules on the protection of data and networks virtual property, follow those laws as he said, citing Article 127 of China’s Civil Code. He acknowledged that there appears to be no other applicable legislation at the present, but emphasized that just because bitcoin has property qualities does not imply it is property under criminal law.