Web3 practitioners are most worried about legal security. The clown who was gaining traffic yesterday and his project have already been blacklisted and blocked.
I have整理了下 official policies:
Although it is unrealistic to completely open up, legislation regarding cryptocurrencies in mainland China is actually on the way, especially with the passing of the U.S. GENIUS stablecoin regulatory bill and Hong Kong's stablecoin regulatory bill, along with the future passage of the CLARITY bill, which will likely accelerate this process.
This year, the Central Political and Legal Work Conference clearly proposed to conduct legislative research on several emerging fields, including virtual currencies. The timing from research to implementation coincides with the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
If you pay attention to the major research topics of the Supreme Court in the past two years, you will find that there are relevant contents on "virtual currencies" every year:
The topic for 2024 is "Research on the Disposition of Involved Virtual Currencies," with participating research teams located in Chongqing, Beijing, and Shenzhen. The 2023 topic is "Research on the Legal Nature and Judicial Protection Path of Virtual Property," with participating teams located in Guangzhou, Yancheng in Jiangsu, and Chengdu, all key areas in the cryptocurrency space. Generally, research support is often conducted in the form of related topics before legislation.
The topic for 2024 will not conclude until the fourth quarter of this year, but the topic for 2023 has already concluded last December.
The Guangzhou Internet Court held a press conference in April this year on "Analysis of Civil Judicial Protection Paths for Network Virtual Property and Typical Case Reporting," releasing the "Research and Analysis Report on the Legal Nature and Civil Judicial Protection Paths of Network Virtual Property" and the "Top Ten Typical Cases of Network Virtual Property Disputes," which are basically the results of the topic.
The report classified NFTs and cryptocurrencies as network construction-type virtual properties, qualifying them as a type of creation that includes both data creation and value creation. The value is virtual in nature and has characteristics of both property rights and creditor rights, allowing the rights holder to have exclusive possession, use, benefit, or disposal of the virtual property.
The recognition of property rights for cryptocurrencies is a positive development for holders, providing a greater sense of security. However, one should not be overly optimistic, as the report still mentions that the value recognition disputes of virtual property related to cryptocurrencies can easily lead to financial risks. It emphasizes the need for collaborative regulatory departments to strengthen risk prevention in key areas such as NFT digital collectibles and digital currencies, and to crack down on speculative operations and illegal activities.
Additionally, among the typical cases released simultaneously, there is one case indicating that cryptocurrency investment and trading activities are not protected by law. In other words, holding cryptocurrencies is allowed and their value is recognized, but if there are any disputes arising from investment trading, then sorry, the court will not accept it.
This has been the consistent attitude of judicial rulings in recent years. Legislation is likely moving in this direction: recognizing property rights allows for the legal channels to handle confiscated coins while placing restrictions on investment trading activities.