New Developments in the Judicial Disposal of Virtual Money: What Information Was Revealed at the Supreme Court's Key Topic Seminar?

Recently, a closed-door seminar on the "Research on the Disposal of Involved Virtual Money" was held in Beijing. This research is one of the key topics of judicial research for the Supreme People's Court in 2024, led by the Law School of Renmin University of China. The conference brought together representatives from the judiciary, academia, and the business sector to discuss various issues related to the judicial disposal of virtual money.

Main Points of the Seminar

At the seminar, the participating experts discussed multiple aspects of the judicial disposal of Virtual Money.

1. The head of the research team at Renmin University of China stated that the research team has gone to the United States for relevant research, demonstrating a focus on international experience.

2. A judge from the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing pointed out that, based on the confirmation that virtual money has property attributes, there are still challenges in case characterization, calculation of criminal amounts, and identification of criminal forms, reflecting the difficulties in practical operations.

3. A representative from a certain exchange introduced the workflow and latest progress regarding the joint disposal of the virtual money involved in the case, providing a reference for the practical application of the disposal mechanism.

4. Technical experts from the public security department suggest adopting a "dual entrustment mechanism", which involves independent entities both domestically and abroad sharing the disposal tasks. At the same time, he also proposed enhancing the security of Virtual Money custody through measures such as performance guarantees, cold wallets, and insurance arrangements.

Current Status of Disposal Practices

Although the seminar showcased progress in various aspects, overall, the research on the disposal of the involved virtual money is still in its early stages. The current disposal practices are still primarily based on joint disposal between domestic and foreign entities, without any disruptive changes.

It is noteworthy that, since the beginning of this year, the pace of handling virtual money nationwide has significantly slowed down. This is mainly due to the lingering doubts regarding the compliant handling of virtual money in various regions.

However, the Beijing Public Security Bureau recently publicly detailed its cooperation in the judicial disposal of Virtual Money, a move that may positively impact disposal efforts nationwide.

Potential Changes in Future Disposal Models

According to the information revealed at the seminar, there may be the following changes in the judicial disposal of virtual money in the future:

1. The disposal subject may be expanded from public security organs to the court enforcement bureau to address the difficulties encountered by local courts in executing cases involving coins.

2. The transparency of disposal service fees will be further improved, and the reasonableness of disposal prices and the transparency of rates may become research focuses.

3. Inter-departmental cooperation mechanisms may become more common. Future disposal work may require collaboration among multiple departments such as public security, courts, finance, central bank, and foreign exchange administration. In the overseas disposal phase, it may also involve cross-border judicial cooperation.

Conclusion

In China, given that a national strategic reserve for virtual money has not yet been established, the virtual money seized by judicial authorities ultimately faces the need for disposal and realization. However, under the current policy framework, the exchange business between virtual money and fiat currency still needs to be conducted overseas.

The compliance of the judicial disposal of virtual money requires not only theoretical demonstration and design but also practical innovation and experimentation. The development in this field will continue to attract attention from all parties, and there may be more substantial progress and breakthroughs in the future.