Jiang Fan, deputy to the National People’s Congress, suggested that the virtual currency disposal system involved in the case needs to be improved.

Ruan Zhanjiang, all-media reporter of Rule of Law Daily

"The disposal of virtual currencies has become a key and difficult issue in judicial practice." Recently, Jiang Fan, a representative of the National People's Congress and chairman of the board of directors of Hunan Renren Law Firm, suggested in an interview with a reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" that the " The relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China will further improve the disposal system of virtual currencies involved in the case.

"In recent years, due to the popularity of criminal activities such as fraud, extortion, money laundering, and terrorism, criminal cases involving virtual currencies have shown an increasing trend year by year. The proportion of virtual currency in property involved in criminal cases continues to increase." Jiang Fan pointed out that due to the different attributes of virtual currency and traditional property, the existing system regulations, investigation measures and property disposal methods cannot cope with the seizure, custody, realization and other activities of virtual currency involved in the case. Real needs. Relevant normative documents are unclear on key issues such as the criteria and procedures for the handling of virtual currencies by case-handling agencies. Some case-handling agencies have no choice but to adopt subjective presumptions to advance the process of handling property involved in cases. This has led to the emergence of criminal-related currency disposals in judicial practice. It solves practical problems such as lack of legal application, imperfect compulsory measures, and questionable realization procedures.

"The country lacks unified institutional regulations on how to take compulsory measures such as seizure and freezing of virtual currencies involved." Jiang Fan pointed out that the anonymity and decentralization of virtual currencies The centralized nature of transactions makes it difficult to track and supervise transactions, and increases the difficulty of investigation and evidence collection. The cross-border nature of virtual currencies requires cross-border cooperation between regulatory agencies in various countries. However, the current international cooperation mechanism is not perfect, making it more difficult to seize and freeze. The value of virtual currency fluctuates greatly, and it is necessary to ensure the safety of assets during seizure and freezing to avoid value loss. The concealment and virtuality of virtual currencies require improving custody plans, standardizing operating procedures, and strengthening management of handling personnel to prevent losses caused by poor custody or problems such as transfers and private divisions.

"The contradiction between the ban on the circulation of virtual currencies in the country and the practical need to dispose and realize the virtual currencies involved in the case cannot be reconciled." Jiang Fan pointed out that the criminal cases seized The realization of virtual currency can actually meet the interest needs of multiple parties. The huge economic value behind it can make up for the property losses of victims of criminal cases, protect the legitimate rights and interests of victims from being infringed, and provide criminal suspects with refunds and compensation to obtain sentencing. opportunities for leniency.

However, the "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with Speculation Risks in Virtual Currency Transactions" clearly stipulates that virtual currencies cannot be circulated in the market as currency, and virtual currency-related business activities Qualified as illegal financial activities, virtual currency investment and trading activities are not protected by civil laws. This has brought great obstacles to the judicial organs' disposal of virtual currencies. It is difficult for the judicial organs to sell and auction the seized and confiscated virtual currencies through legal and authoritative channels, which has led to the current ambiguity and confusion about the disposal of virtual currencies. The gray area also buries multiple hidden dangers.

"Since virtual currency-related business activities are classified as illegal financial activities, my country currently does not have specific regulatory documents for the disposal of virtual currencies involved in the case. The disposal entities of the virtual currencies involved in the case , disposal methods, disposal procedures, etc. have not been clearly stipulated." Jiang Fan pointed out that in practice, in order to safeguard national interests and the interests of victims and solve judicial case-handling problems, most judicial authorities entrust private technology companies to dispose of virtual currencies on their behalf, and the disposal companies will transfer the virtual currencies on their behalf. Sell ​​it and hand over the realized proceeds to the judicial authorities after deducting the service fee. However, there are problems in the actual operation process such as insufficient legal basis, excessive realization costs, and difficulty in supervising the disposal process. At the same time, the disposal process lacks openness and transparency, which is likely to lead to problems such as rent-seeking, profit differentials, and corruption.

"Based on the practical needs of judicial practice, we must first clarify the legal basis for the disposal of virtual currencies involved in the case." Jiang Fan believes that Article 100 of the "Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" Article 27 has stipulated: “If the law has provisions on the protection of data and network virtual property, such provisions shall prevail.” From this, it can be seen that virtual currency, as a property electromagnetic record existing on the network, has a property attribute of Recognized by the Civil Code, it is a new type of digital property whose value can be measured using existing measurement standards.

In this regard, Jiang Fan suggested that Article 144 of the "Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China" be revised to: The People's Procuratorate and the public security organs shall investigate and investigate crimes. If necessary, the criminal suspect's deposits, remittances, bonds, stocks, fund shares, virtual currencies and other properties can be queried and frozen in accordance with regulations. Relevant units and individuals should cooperate.

If the criminal suspect’s deposits, remittances, bonds, stocks, fund shares, virtual currency and other properties have been frozen, they shall not be frozen again.

"On the basis of clarifying the basis for the disposal of virtual currencies, complete disposal procedures and disposal measures need to be established." Jiang Fan believes that the first step is to formulate rules for the disposal of virtual currencies. Special normative documents. It is recommended that the three agencies of public security, procuratorate, and law jointly formulate special provisions on the procedures for the seizure, valuation, and custody of virtual currencies in the form of judicial interpretation documents, such as the "Procedures for Handling Virtual Currency Withdrawal, Seizure, Valuation, Custody, and Realization of Virtual Currency Crime Cases on Several Issues" Regulation". At the same time, financial regulatory authorities work together to strengthen the management and control of financial risks that may arise when dealing with virtual currencies during criminal proceedings, and provide professional advice in the financial field to cooperate with case-handling agencies.

"Secondly, we must build a fair and transparent virtual currency realization mechanism." Jiang Fan believes that the establishment of a franchise entity with the approval of relevant ministries and commissions must clarify its franchise scope. For the judicial evaluation and disposal of virtual assets, virtual currencies, digital assets, digital currencies, encrypted assets, encrypted financial products, etc., the virtual currency disposal business must be carried out legally and compliantly; at the same time, it must be clearly recognized that virtual currencies can be used as items that are not suitable for long-term storage , standardize the procedures for advance disposal of currency involved in the case, improve the approval model for advance disposal, and introduce the review model of the procuratorate or judicial authority based on the consent of the individual and the approval of the person in charge of the public security agency at or above the county level, and strengthen the supervision of the advance disposal by the investigative agency intensity.

"At the same time, we must also establish an information disclosure mechanism and supervision mechanism for the realization of virtual currencies involved in the case." Jiang Fan believes that through the disclosure and transparency of disposal information, Clarify the source of transaction funds, supervise the transaction in real time, and ensure that after the criminal suspect voluntarily agrees to dispose of the virtual currency, all parties can understand the whereabouts and current status of the seized virtual currency in real time.