Bitcoin Impact Unclear as Chinese Legislators Draft ‘Virtual Property’ Law

The National People’s Congress, the national legislature of China, has released draft text for a civil law code that, if implemented, would provide a legal definition for virtual property.
Following the announcement yesterday, reports began emerging that the definition could extend to blockchain-based assets including bitcoin and other digital currencies, with such speculation being set off by communications from ChinaLedger, a China-based blockchain consortium and local OTC trading firm BTCKhan.
However, ChinaLedger’s legal lead, Broad and Bright partner Roland Sun, as well as other China-based sources, are now asserting that the text in question contains no specific reference to digital currencies or bitcoin.
In interview, Sun said the law is rather designed to address longstanding disputes related to the theft of properties available in online gaming.
Though he acknowledged the definition could be expanded to include digital currencies, he said there is a “long way to go” before such a legal definition could be enacted.

This post was published at Coin Desk on June 29, 2016.

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