China’s government has signaled that it is warming up to digital currency with a new proposed civil law that may recognize people’s legal right to own virtual assets, including digital currencies.
A new draft of China’s civil code was introduced in The National People’s Congress June 27. The draft will reportedly designate all virtual networks, data and information as property equal to physical and other financial assets, bringing them under the jurisdiction of civil rights that are applicable to property in general.
OKCoin founder and CEO Star Xu told Bitcoin Magazine that the new draft law is good news saying: "The central bank defined Bitcoin as a "virtual commodity" in 2013; however, digital assets are different from traditional properties in a sense due to their virtual features. That makes it difficult to be incorporated into the traditional ‘object’ which is normally categorized as ‘chattel’ and ‘real estate.’ “Since the Chinese law have not clearly defined the virtual asset in the past, property disputes involving ‘virtual commodities’ are difficult to be resolved under the existing law. This proposed new civil law draft, which includes digital assets with legal rights, will contribute to the protection of such property rights while also establishing a framework for the development of future specific rules. “It is the manifestation of legal progress in China and it will benefit the Bitcoin industry in the long term.” The Chinese government has taken a wait-and-see stance until now, appreciating that China should not fall behind the rest of the world in innovations such as Bitcoin and blockchain technologies, but conscious, too, of the possible effect on China’s central currency, the yuan.
Huobi Chief of Staff Yue Wen told Bitcoin Magazine that: “Without any doubt, the new draft of Civil Code is an improvement of Chinese law system, even though there is […]
