虽然比特币在技术上的运用并无争议，但其性质的判断却众说纷纭，亟待法律层面的明确。为此，《法制日报》记者就比特币的法律属性这一关注度很高的问题，与多位业内专家展开对话。
Although the technical use of Bitcoin is not controversial, its nature is widely discussed and legal clarity is urgently needed. To this end, the daily Rule of Law journalist has engaged in a dialogue with a number of experts on the issue of the legal attributes of Bitcoin.
对话人
Interlocutors
广西民族大学华南区块链大数据法治战略研究院院长 齐爱民
Qi Aimin, President of the University of the Guangxi National University School of Law and Law in the South China Block Chain
中国电子商务协会电子商务法工作委员会副会长 汪 鹏
Vice-President, Working Committee on Electronic Commerce Law, China Electronic Commerce Association
新加坡IBD科技有限责任公司董事长 陈礼贤
Chairman, IBD Technology Limited, Singapore
《法制日报》记者 张 维
Reporter of the daily Rule of Law
是否被承认为货币
is recognized as a currency
记者：比特币作为数字货币，在法律上能否被承认为货币？
Reporter: Is Bitcoin legally recognized as a currency as a digital currency?
齐爱民：比特币等数字货币，名称上有“币”，但根据中国现行法律，其属性与货币无关。去中心化的比特币是基于密码学原理而非一个具有信用保证功能的权威机构运行，它运行的底层技术是区块链。通过技术上的设计，比特币平台上的所有交易记录可以在所有参与节点间同步，参与者在如此高透明性的网络环境下进行交易，有效地保证了交易的安全性。
The decentralized bitcoin operates on the basis of cryptography rather than on the basis of an authoritative body with credit guarantee functions. Through technical design, all transactions on the Bitcoin platform can be synchronized between all participating nodes, and participants conduct transactions in such a transparent network environment that the security of the transaction is effectively ensured.
货币的本质在于其背后的信用，而比特币代表了一种新型的货币形态，其所依托的数学算法和共识机制能否建立起与当前国家信用背书相同的信用体系是判断比特币是否是货币的关键。对此，我国2017年出台的《关于防范代币发行融资风险的公告》明确否定了比特币的货币属性，进而采取了比较严格的监管策略。在司法实践中，无论是将比特币界定为合法财产还是数据，法院均否定了其货币属性。
The essence of currency lies in the credit that lies behind it, and bitcoin represents a new currency shape, and whether its mathematical algorithms and consensus mechanisms can establish the same credit system as the current state credit endorsements are the key to determining whether bitcoin is a currency. In this regard, our 2017 Proclamation on Protection against the Risk of Money Issue Financing explicitly negates bitcoin’s monetary identity, thereby adopting a more stringent regulatory strategy.
汪鹏：随着互联网由信息互联网向价值互联网转化，人们开始尝试通过数学算法来建立交易双方的信任关系，使得弱关系可以依靠算法建立强连接，从而推进金融等需要高度信息对称才能顺利完成的交易活动的大规模实现。比特币这种电子支付系统使得所有参与者可以放心交易，而无需一个中心化的机构进行中介。
Wang Peng: As the Internet moves from information to value Internet, people start trying to build trust relationships between the parties to the transaction through mathematical algorithms, allowing weak relationships to rely on algorithms to build strong connections, thus facilitating large-scale realization of transactions that require a high degree of symmetry of information, such as finance. Bitcoins, an electronic payment system, allows all participants to feel secure about the transaction without the need for a centralized agency to broker it.
陈礼贤：在理论上，信用是货币的本质，也是其可以成为交换媒介，具备支付、定价与贮藏等职能的根本原因。不同货币的信用表现形式不同，在货币的原始阶段，信用仅存在于承认某种特定物为货币的群体之间。
Chen Jianxian: In theory, credit is the essence of money, and it is the underlying reason why it can be a medium of exchange, with functions such as payment, pricing and storage. Credits in different currencies are expressed differently, and at the initial stage of the currency, credit exists only among groups that recognize a particular thing as money.
当法定货币出现以后，货币不仅体现为发行机构的信用，更体现某一国(或地区)政府的信用。因为国家信用的背书，持有法定货币的任何人都不用担心货币的正常使用问题。
When a legal currency emerges, it is not only the credit of the issuing agency, but also the credit of the government of a given country (or region). Because of the endorsement of State credit, anyone holding the legal currency has no concern about the normal use of the currency.
是否可认定成数据
Whether data can be identified
记者：目前已有案例将比特币作为数据进行保护。在罗全非法获取计算机系统数据罪一案中，被告人通过在QQ群散播木马程序，经远程操控中木马病毒的电脑，篡改被害人苏某的比特币钱包的联系人收款地址，收到被害人错误转账的比特币后兑换成人民币，造成被害人15万元人民币的损失。法院认为，被告人构成非法获取计算机信息系统数据罪。今年3月，北京市海淀区人民检察院也以相同罪名逮捕了犯罪嫌疑人仲某。仲某通过使用管理员权限，盗取公司100个比特币(后归还90个)。
Journalists: There have been cases in which Bitcoin has been used as data protection. In the case of the crime of illegal access to computer systems data, the defendant arrested the suspect for the same offence in March, using the Q-Q-group wooden horse program, remote manipulation of the wooden horse virus computer, tampering with the recipient's address of the victim's Bitcoin wallet, and the exchange of the victim's wrongly transferred bitcoin into the renminbi, resulting in the loss of the victim's RMB 150,000. The court held that the defendant was guilty of illegal access to computer information system data. In March, the People's Procuratorate of Haidian District in Beijing also arrested the suspect for the same offence.
由此，是否可以将比特币的性质就认定为数据呢？
Can the nature of Bitcoin therefore be considered data?
齐爱民：大数据时代，数据成为基础生产资料，数据的自由流通是数字经济发展的关键环节。为此，我国民法总则将数据和网络虚拟财产明确纳入法律保护范围，但是对于何为数据、数据与虚拟财产之间的关系尚缺乏进一步的指引。
CYEMEN: In the age of big data, data become the basic production material, and the free flow of data is a key link in the digital economy. To this end, our general civil code explicitly includes data and virtual property on the Internet in the scope of legal protection, but there is no further guidance as to what is the relationship between data, data and virtual property.
在我国司法实践中，有一部分司法机关并不认同比特币的“财产说”，坚持比特币的“数据说”。这种观点较为保守，将比特币通过破坏计算机系统罪的方式保护的弊端在于，其仅仅在刑事领域保护，必须依托于特定的计算机系统，且只有在达到量刑标准时才予以保护，而没有在更加一般的意义上肯定其财产价值。
In our judicial practice, some jurisdictions do not agree with Bitcoin's “property claim” and insist on Bitcoin's “data claim”. This view is conservative. The disadvantage of protecting Bitcoin through crimes against computer systems is that it is protected only in the criminal sphere and must be based on a specific computer system and protected only when the criteria for sentencing are met, rather than affirming the value of its property in a more general sense.
汪鹏：在上述案件中，法院没有将比特币当作财产，而是当作计算机系统的数据予以保护。实际上窃取比特币也就是窃取比特币的私钥，确实是窃取了一组数据，只不过这些数据的价格不菲。
Wang Peng: In the above-mentioned case, the court did not treat Bitcoin as a property, but rather as data from the computer system. The actual theft of bitcoin, the private key to bitcoin, was indeed a collection of data, although the price of the data was very high.
是否属于合法财产
is legal property
记者：比特币是否属于法律保护的财产权益？
Reporter: Is Bitcoin a property interest protected by law?
齐爱民：比特币等数字货币的法律性质为财产。在现有法律规定上，民法总则第一百二十七条规定：法律对数据、网络虚拟财产的保护有规定的，依照其规定。在理论上，公民的财产既包括有形的，也包括无形的，网络虚拟财产应属于无形资产的一种。虚拟财产既可以从游戏开发商处直接购买，也可以从虚拟的货币交易市场上获得，因而虚拟财产已经具有了一般商品的属性，其真实价值不言而喻。
The legal nature of digital money, such as Bitcoin, is property. In terms of existing legal provisions, article 127 of the General Civil Code provides that the law provides for the protection of data and virtual property on the Internet. In theory, the property of citizens is tangible and intangible, and virtual property on the Internet should be an intangible asset. Virtual property can be purchased either directly from a game developer or from a virtual money-trading market, so that virtual property already has the characteristics of a general commodity and its true value is self-evident.
民法总则规定了网络虚拟财产受到法律保护，是对其财产价值的正面肯定。但是现有立法尚未对比特币的财产属性予以明确规定。中国人民银行认为，比特币是一种虚拟商品。
The general rules of civil law provide for the legal protection of virtual property on the Internet, which is a positive affirmation of the value of its property. However, the property attributes of the currency are not clearly defined in the legislation in force.
值得注意的是，各项通知是禁止虚拟币交易所交易，不得作为货币流通，但并未禁止民众持有比特币，也未禁止比特币作为虚拟商品流通。比特币作为一种新兴事物，比特币对现有货币体系的挑战并不能否定其作为一种财产的正当存在，而将其界定为数据的观点是仅仅从形式上判断其性质，且未能扩大至民事保护，过于保守。充分肯定其财产价值，并在制度上予以明确对于比特币的正常流通以及民事活动的自由开展具有重要意义。
It is worth noting that the circulars prohibit virtual currency exchange transactions and do not circulate as currency, but do not prohibit people from holding bitcoin, nor do they prohibit bitcoin as a virtual commodity. As an emerging matter, Bitcoin’s challenge to the existing monetary system does not negate its rightful existence as a property, but rather defines it as a data-based view that it is purely formal in nature and does not extend to civil protection, which is too conservative.
汪鹏：目前，有案例是支持比特币作为合法财产的。
Wang Poon: Currently, there are cases in which Bitcoin is supported as legal property.
比如，在2016年武宏恩盗窃罪一案中，被告人武宏恩通过QQ远程链接从被害人金某的电脑中获得了某投资平台账号及密码，后被告人武宏恩利用这5个账户及密码，通过篡改收款地址的方式盗走被害人金某账户中的比特币70.9578枚(价值人民币205607.81元)，后在“火币网”交易平台上出售，并将交易所得资金提现到其银行账户内。
For example, in the 2016 Wuhongn theft case, the accused Wu Hongen obtained the account number and password of an investment platform from the victim's Kim's computer via a Q-Q remote link, after which the accused Wu Hongan stole 70.9578 bitcoins (value RMB 205607.81) from an account of the victim's gold by tampering with the collection address, and then sold them on the “Marnet” trading platform and cashed the proceeds of the transaction into his bank account.
法院认为，被害人金某付出对价后得到比特币，不仅是一种特定的虚拟商品，也代表着被害人在现实生活中实际享有的财产，应当受刑法保护。因此被告人武宏恩的行为已构成盗窃罪。法院通过比特币能够在实际生活中代表财产权益，认定比特币是一种财产，受法律保护。
The Court held that the victim's payment of the sum in exchange for a bitcoin was not only a specific virtual commodity, but also represented property that the victim actually enjoyed in real life and should be protected by criminal law. Thus, the defendant's act of Wu Houn-eun constituted an offence of theft. By means of Bitcoin, the Court was able to represent property interests in real life and found that Bitcoin was a property under the protection of the law.
此案的判决结果表明，司法机关将比特币认定为合法财产，但这仅仅是其中一种观点，并非“通说”。
The outcome of the judgement in this case showed that the judicial authorities had recognized Bitcoin as a lawful property, but that this was only one of those views and was not “general”.
陈礼贤：深圳国际仲裁院(深圳仲裁委员会)对比特币仲裁案的裁决，就说明了我国法律在民事领域是肯定比特币的财产属性以及比特币交易合同的有效性的，这一裁决对于保证比特币的自由流通和交易各方的权益具有标杆意义。
Chen Yee-hyun: The decision of the Shenzhen International Court of Arbitration (Shin Shenzhen Arbitration Commission) in the Bitcoin arbitration demonstrates that our laws affirm in the civil sphere the property attributes of Bitcoin and the validity of the Bitcoin transaction contract, and that this decision is landmark in safeguarding the free circulation of bitcoin and the rights and interests of the parties to the transaction.
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