Source: Lawyer Liu Honglin

Some time ago, a client who invested in virtual currencies added us on WeChat , asked us a question. This problem is quite representative. Many friends who play currency should have encountered it, that is, the interests of OTC transactions have been damaged. This customer is slightly different from other OTC transactions. Below I Let me tell you what problems this customer encountered.

01 Case Situation

Come and consult our Customer, we will call him A, A wants to buy U from a friend he has known for a while, we will call A’s friend B. The transaction mode between them is to first transfer money from A to B, which is equivalent to A placing an order with B and telling him how much U I want to order. After B receives the transfer from A, he then collects U. After receiving the sufficient amount of U, he transfers it to A. The transaction is completed.

This transaction mode is very common, and some players buy USDT (hereinafter referred to as U) in this way. However, what problem occurred during the transaction between A and B? Well, after A transferred money to B, B did not transfer U to A within the agreed time. When A saw that B did not transfer U to himself when the agreed time arrived, he asked B what was going on. B replied that the account was frozen and the U transfer could not be made. Two months passed in this way, and the reply from B to A was that the account was frozen and had not been unfrozen, and would be given to A after it was unfrozen. Until October this year, A asked B, and B's reply was that his account was frozen. When A saw that it would not be a problem if it continued like this, he became angry and called the police.

A was also well prepared when calling the police. He printed out the chat records and transfer records of both parties and took them to the police. The police accepted X's alarm and conducted corresponding investigation. After investigation, the police told A that what he reported to the police was true, but the other party did not constitute a crime of fraud. They suggested that our client A solve the problem through civil means.

02 Is a currency-related dispute criminal or civil?

Then the question arises, is what happened to person A a criminal case or a civil case as the police said?

From what I have learned so far, what happened to Person A should be handled as a criminal case, but why did the police say it did not constitute a crime of fraud? I guess the police just learned from the "94 Announcement" and so on. From a documentary perspective, the property attribute of virtual currency is denied. Since virtual currency is not property in the sense of criminal law, then this crime involving property rights and interests must have nothing to do with B. However, when A was talking to us, he did not explain the specific reason why the police did not open the case. Is it because they believed that virtual currency did not have property attributes and did not open the case, or was B because there was no fraud. I have just said that it does not have property attributes (but it does not rule out that the public security organs in some areas have gradually recognized the virtual property attributes of virtual currency in property-related criminal cases), so what are the possible situations where there is no fraud? For example, after B got the money, he did buy U from others, and B's account was indeed frozen. However, after it was unfrozen, B had a wrong idea and used the virtual currency that was supposed to be transferred to A. Or Reselling it to others is not considered fraud.

So, back to the topic of this article, purchasing virtual currency from the other party, and the other party does not deliver it, may be a criminal case or a civil case. If I say this, it's the same as if I didn't say it, right? This should be treated according to different situations. If the public security agency at the place where the crime occurred does not recognize the property attributes of virtual currency, or the purpose of possession was generated during the behavior, or the transaction cannot proceed smoothly due to its own unexpected reasons, then this will all It does not fall under the jurisdiction of criminal fraud, so we can only solve the problem through civil means.

As for solving the problem through civil litigation, courts in various places have different views on the transaction of virtual currency. As for the different views, please go to "Lending Bits to Others" written by other great lawyers of ours. Can I sue for virtual currency? "Go and study this article carefully. Although the title of this article is "borrowing", its substantive content is the same as that of transactions.

03 Mankiw’s lawyer suggested

At the end of the article, also I would like to tell you that when it comes to this kind of situation where you can either go left or right, it is very difficult to solve the problem with only one way. I recently received a case in which the defendant was suspected of embezzlement. Since the crime of embezzlement is a "private prosecution crime", that is, if the party concerned does not file a criminal private prosecution in court, the public security organs and other criminal investigation agencies will not take the initiative to investigate the case. After the case was brought to court, the court for the first time considered that I had not provided evidence that their court had jurisdiction and would not open the case. So after I changed the complaint and evidence list, I reminded the court that it had jurisdiction over the case. The court’s reasons for rejecting my lawsuit made me laugh out loud, saying, “I do not agree to file the case, and it is recommended to handle it through civil litigation.” Do you understand what the court means? The reason is that, strictly speaking, this is a criminal case and I should file a case under my jurisdiction. However, you can also solve the corresponding problems through civil litigation, so I will not file a case for you.

The reason why I talk about the filing process of my case is to remind all the virtual currency players who have been cheated that some cases are indeed criminal and civil. If you can’t get through the criminal route, then go ahead. Try the civil approach. As long as it can solve the problem, there is nothing wrong with taking it. Anyway, all roads lead to Rome.