May is of particular importance for Chinese bitcoiners and blockchain startups. As they are waiting for the government voice on crypto and blockchain during the annual “two sessions”. Regulation of the cryptocurrency space is still hotly discussed during China’s “two sessions”, the annual gathering of the country’s legislative and political advisory bodies and its biggest political meetings of the year.

In order to solve the heritage issue of new forms of property emerging in recent years, the new civil law draft proposes to include Internet property, cryptocurrency, and other legal properties in the category of heritage.

Someone predicted that the underlying line behind this is the hope of crypto space legalization. Is that really the case?

Simply from the point of view of the article. The content is well-founded, detailed and logical. But the “virtual currency” referred to in the draft is not “cryptocurrency”.

Why? Because “virtual currency” is a large concept, people in different circles have different definitions.

In fact, as early as in 2016 when the “general principles of civil law” were formulated, the Internet property and virtual currency had already experienced some controversy. At that time, the main purpose of the draft was to solve various disputes involving video game equipment, game bonus, and platform token in practice. Now the overhaul of the civil law is also a matter of course.

So it is not necessary for the crypto space to be too excited. It is just a gift for another space like Internet law space, which covers the video game industry, the online platform industry.

China’s crypto space is still in its infancy, with many problems, among which policies and laws are a small part. Early on May 6, a case of foreign-related bitcoin property damage compensation was publicly adjudicated in Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, in which the court determined bitcoin as legal virtual property. All bitcoin obtained through illegal means in the case should be returned or discounted for compensation.

The legal holding of bitcoin has never been prohibited in China, and bitcoins commodity property and corresponding property rights and interests have been affirmed. The reason why the official nearly mention it is protecting the public from the high investment risks.

However, there is a huge gap from jurisprudence to practice – the education of legal practitioners. Even there have been two decisions of Hangzhou Internet court in 2019 on the recognition of the attributes of the virtual property of bitcoin and the court in Shanghai issued a decision on the recognition of the legal holding of bitcoin. In other Chinese areas, most courts refuse to accept the case.