Five years in jail for stealing bitcoin

1.

According to the news on February 10, 2018, on September 4, 2017, seven ministries and commissions of the people's Republic of China issued the notice on preventing the financing risk of token issuance, which regulates the issuance of tokens. In the notice, the nature of all kinds of tokens and "virtual currency" is clearly defined: it is not issued by the monetary authority, and it has no monetary attributes such as legal compensation and mandatory, It does not have the same legal status as currency and cannot and should not be used as currency in the market. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that all kinds of "virtual currency" still have a certain property value and are part of the property of the holder. So, how to identify the nature of the theft of such tokens

In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of "virtual token" holders, the author intends to discuss such issues through a relevant news report and relevant cases

stealing bitcoin

recently, a news report said that Haidian police in Beijing cracked a case of destroying computer information system. The suspect Zhong used his administrator's authority to modify the company's computer applications and steal 100 bitcoins. Before he could sell the stolen money, Zhong was arrested by the police. At present, Zhong was detained for the crime of destroying computer information system

it can be seen from the report that the police detained the perpetrator for stealing bitcoin on suspicion of damaging the computer information system. The crime of destroying the computer information system stipulated in Article 286 of the criminal law of our country refers to the act of deleting, modifying, adding or interfering with the functions of the computer information system in violation of the provisions of the state, resulting in the abnormal operation of the computer information system and serious consequences, or deleting, modifying or interfering with the data and application programs stored, processed or transmitted in the computer information system Modifying or adding operations with serious consequences, or deliberately making or spreading destructive programs such as computer viruses, which affect the normal operation of the computer system with serious consequences

In the author's opinion, this crime is one of the crimes of impairing social management order in Chapter 6 of the criminal law, that is, the legal interest protected by this crime is actually the public order of our society, not the property interests of the digital currency holders, which in fact denies the property value of digital currency, It is only protected as a data or system function in a computer system. The author thinks that there is some irrationality in this way

first of all, in the notice on the prevention of bitcoin risk issued in 2013, it is mentioned that bitcoin is not a real currency because it is not issued by the monetary authority and does not have such monetary attributes as legal compensation and compulsion. Bitcoin has four main characteristics: no centralized issuers, limited amount, no geographical restrictions and anonymity. Because it belongs to a specific virtual commodity in nature The notice also clearly mentioned that bitcoin does not have the same legal status as currency and should not be used as currency in the market. However, as a virtual commodity, the property value behind bitcoin cannot be ignored

Secondly, Article 127 of the general provisions of the civil law, which came into effect on October 1 last year, stipulates that if the law has provisions on the protection of data and network virtual property, such provisions shall prevail. Although only the protection of the network virtual property has made the principle provisions, but it can not be denied that this shows our country's attitude towards the protection of the network virtual property. Although there is no special law for the protection of data and network virtual property in China, from the perspective of the general provisions of civil law, it is predicted that there will be relevant legislation in the future

finally, from the relevant cases, we can also see the recognition of the property attribute of virtual currency such as bitcoin in China's judicial practice. In April and may 2013, Liu premeditated to set up a bitcoin trading platform, so he recruited Jin and Huang (both sentenced) to jointly set up a "bitcoin" trading platform. During this period, Liu, Huang, Jin, Jin and the defendant he, in addition to other acts of directly stealing customers' funds, also frequently cashed RMB by selling customers' bitcoins, and transferred 120 bitcoins from the website. Finally, the court convicted and punished the defendant for fraud, and the bitcoin transferred by the defendant was also included in the property loss of the victim. Therefore, from the judicial cases, we can also get the recognition of the property attributes of virtual currency such as bitcoin

based on the above reasons, the author thinks that it may be unreasonable to regulate the theft of virtual currency only as the crime of damaging computer information system. We should face up to the hidden property value and consider the application of the crime of infringing property in China's criminal law. Only in this way can we effectively protect the legitimate rights and property of digital currency holders in China

2. Because bitcoin is legal in China, the central bank defines it as a special Internet commodity. Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the central bank, believes that bitcoin, like stamps, is a tradable asset. Bitcoin home has a full text interpretation. If the dispute caused by the station closing does not involve fraud or cannot be proved to be fraud, it can be solved through negotiation, and the victim's fund can be returned and the corresponding compensation can be made. If there is evidence to show that this is indeed fraud, the consequences will be serious. If the amount is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment and shall also be fined or be sentenced to confiscation of property More than 500000 is a huge amount.

3. It's illegal to steal bitcoin. The public security bureau can arrest you. There are also many cases of fraud using bitcoin. In China, the central bank defines bitcoin as a special Internet commodity, which denies its monetary attribute, but people can buy and sell it freely at their own risk. Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the central bank, said that bitcoin is a tradable asset, just like stamps. Now, do you think it's illegal to steal bitcoin?

4. He should be hiding somewhere now. After all, he can't be found by the public.

5.

As of July 24, 2020, the state has not issued any laws to prove that bitcoin mining machine is illegal

bitcoin mining machine is one of the ways to obtain bitcoin. Bitcoin is a kind of network virtual currency proced by open source P2P software

it doesn't rely on the issuance of specific monetary institutions, and it is generated through a large number of calculations of specific algorithms. Bitcoin economy uses a distributed database composed of many nodes in the whole P2P network to confirm and record all transactions. The decentralized nature and algorithm of P2P can ensure that it is impossible to artificially manipulate the value of bitcoin through mass proction

extended data

the issue and transaction of bitcoin are realized by mining, and it is cast at a certain but slowing rate. Each new block is accompanied by a certain number of new bitcoin from scratch, which is used as a coinbase transaction to reward the miners who find the block

the reward for each block is not fixed. For every 210000 blocks mined, it takes about four years, and the currency issuance rate is reced by 50%. In the first four years of bitcoin's operation, each block created 50 new bitcoins. Each block creates 12.5 new bitcoins. In addition to the block award, the miner will receive a handling fee for all transactions within the block<

source: Internet - bitcoin mining machine

6.

It's not against the law

The laws and administrative regulations in China do not prohibit the proction, holding and legal circulation of bitcoin, nor do they prohibit the sale of bitcoin mining machines

2. The investment and transaction of "virtual currency" represented by bitcoin are on the rise. For this kind of virtual goods generated in the Internet environment after the development of Internet technology, there are policy and commercial risks in related transactions. However, under the premise of not violating the mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations, the contract signed by the parties is a valid contract

3. Bitcoin is generated by "miner" and "mining", and "miner" can be assumed by anyone in any place in the world. "Mining" is a process in which "miner" provides certain computer computing power according to the open source software provided by the designer, and obtains the special solution of the equation through complex mathematical operations, The miner who gets the special solution gets a certain amount of bitcoin reward

Because bitcoin is based on workload proof, it is related to computing power. To have computing power, we need to consume power, so its power consumption is very large. It is precisely because of such a large power consumption that the safe and stable operation of bitcoin system can be guaranteed

extended information:

according to the data of btc.com website, up to now, the computing power of the whole bitcoin network is about 51.65 eh / s, which is equivalent to 1.84 million bitcoin S15 (28T computing power, 1596w power) mining machines in operation, and the daily power consumption is about 69.92 million kwh. Divided by the current proction of 1800 bitcoins per day, excluding other costs, each bitcoin will consume 38800 kwh of electricity. "

from this point of view, although the current price of bitcoin is expensive, the cryptocurrency market website coinmarketcap.com shows that the current unit price is about $7900, but the cost of mining a bitcoin is not low at all

7. It's not against the law<
in the notice of the people's Bank of China
Ministry of instry and information technology
China Banking Regulatory Commission
China Securities Regulatory Commission
China Insurance Regulatory Commission on risk prevention of bitcoin (Yin Fa [2013] No. 289), in addition to clarifying the attributes of bitcoin as a network virtual commodity, the notice mainly specifies the following contents:
first, the, It is clearly required that all financial institutions and Payment institutions at this stage shall not carry out business related to bitcoin, price procts or services with bitcoin, buy or sell bitcoin as central counterparties, underwrite insurance business related to bitcoin or include bitcoin into the scope of insurance liability
Second, Internet sites that explicitly require bitcoin registration, trading and other services should be filed with the telecommunications regulatory authorities, and earnestly perform the anti money laundering obligations, identify users' identities, and report suspicious transactions
thirdly, relevant departments, financial institutions and Payment institutions are required to correctly use the concept of money in their daily work, pay attention to strengthening the ecation of the public's knowledge of money, and incorporate the concepts of correct understanding of money, correct treatment of virtual goods and virtual money, rational investment, reasonable control of investment risks, and maintenance of their own property security into the content of financial knowledge popularization activities, To guide the public to establish a correct concept of money and investment
extended information:
the notice requires that at this stage, all financial institutions and Payment institutions shall not price procts or services with bitcoin, buy or sell bitcoin as a central counterparties, underwrite insurance business related to bitcoin or include bitcoin into the scope of insurance liability, and shall not directly or indirectly provide customers with other services related to bitcoin
including bitcoin registration, trading, clearing, settlement and other services for customers; Accept bitcoin or use bitcoin as a payment and settlement tool; Carry out bitcoin and RMB and foreign currency exchange services; Carry out bitcoin storage, custody, mortgage and other services; Issuing financial procts related to bitcoin; Take bitcoin as the investment target of trust, fund, etc
according to the notice, bitcoin Internet sites, as the main trading platform of bitcoin, should be put on record in the telecommunications regulatory agency in accordance with the provisions of the Telecommunications Regulations of the people's Republic of China and the measures for the administration of Internet information services
at the same time, in view of bitcoin's high risk of money laundering and being used by criminals, the circular requires relevant institutions to earnestly perform legal anti money laundering obligations such as customer identification and suspicious transaction report in accordance with the requirements of anti money laundering law of the people's Republic of China, so as to effectively guard against bitcoin related money laundering risks
source of reference materials:
five ministries and commissions including the people's Bank of China and the government of China issued the notice on preventing bitcoin risk
five ministries and commissions including the China securities regulatory network and the central bank issued the notice on preventing bitcoin risk

8. Bitcoin wallets are not registered. You only need to download one. However, the synchronization of the wallets will be very slow, and the wallets will take up more than 15GB of space. Therefore, if the amount is not large, it is easier to have a trading platform

9.

According to reports, in April this year, Hanshan county power supply company found that the line loss of a section of high-voltage line in Lintou town of Hanshan County suddenly increased, nearly 10 times higher than the normal value. After section by section investigation, the line loss finally pointed to an abandoned factory in Lintou town

it is reported that after verification by the electric power department, Ma madly stole nearly 150000 kwh of electricity in more than one month. Ma was detained for theft. The case is under further investigation

10.

The theft of 14.5 million bitcoins in Jiangxi Province was solved, which caused heated discussion among netizens on the Internet. We all know that the current era is an Internet era, and it is also an era of rapid development. There are many people who want to earn money through illegal means, which is not worth advocating. We also hope that everyone can learn this lesson, suspects will also face very severe punishment

we also hope that this lesson can arouse a wake-up call for everyone. If everyone is like them, they will certainly face the disaster of imprisonment. At the same time, we need to pay attention to the fact that no matter how powerful the hacking technology is, there will still be many hot spots left. After all, it is the body, which cannot be separated from legal sanctions, I also hope that they can learn from this lesson, be a good person in their future life, and never violate the law and discipline. I hope everyone can pay attention to this