China Court Network: The legal qualification of illegally obtaining virtual currency depends on the time the act occurs

ChainCatcher News, the China Court Network published an article titled "The Qualification of Illegal Acquisition of Virtual Currency" authored by the Chongqing Fourth Intermediate People's Court. The content shows that there are currently three views on the criminal qualification of illegal acquisition of virtual currency: it can be qualified as the crime of illegally obtaining data from a computer information system; it should be recognized as theft; or it may violate two crimes, with the option to impose a heavier penalty for one. As for the legal attributes of virtual currency, the judgment should be based on legal provisions, including: the property nature of computer information system data, non-monetary nature, and property nature.

The legal qualification of illegally obtaining virtual currency depends on the time the act occurred. If it occurred before September 2017, virtual currency is regarded as property in the criminal law sense, which may constitute theft and the crime of illegally obtaining computer information, with the option to impose a heavier penalty for one. If it occurred after September 2017, virtual currency is no longer regarded as property under criminal law and is not subject to property crime regulations.