Chinese Court Recognizes Cryptocurrency as Legally Protected Property

Under current norms, virtual assets possess economic properties and can be classified as property protected by law. Such a conclusion is contained in a report by the Supreme People’s Court of China, writes ODaily.

Such bodies in the country handle criminal, civil and administrative cases, as well as economic disputes. They are independent of the executive authorities and civil society organizations.

The authors of the document analysed aspects of criminal law as applied to digital assets.

Experts proposed measures to combat crimes in the cryptocurrency sector. They stressed the need to unify criminal and civil law due to difficulties in asset confiscation. Such cases should be considered separately in order to achieve a balanced protection of private property rights and the public interest, the experts said.

Since 2017, trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on local exchanges in China has been illegal. Later the authorities tightened oversight over industry participants.

Nevertheless, the courts took the opposite stance, recognising digital assets as property protected by law.

As reported, China accounted for a fifth of Binance’s trading volume in May 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Earlier in Hong Kong, there were proposals to connect local crypto exchanges with the PRC.