虚拟货币的法律属性争议与思考

Disputes and Thoughts on the Legal Attributes of Virtual Currency

虚拟货币具有功能角色类货币化、价值支撑共识化、发行交易去中心化、高度匿名化等特征,目前,各国对于认定明确区别于虚拟财产形式的虚拟货币的法律属性的态度尚存在差异。我国司法实践对虚拟货币的合法性、法律属性、相关民事行为效力等方面的评价也不尽相同。从同案不同判的现状看,否定虚拟货币交易相关民事行为或法律关系的效力,并非实现个案公平和维护公共利益的最佳路径,反而可能会诱导通过诉讼获取不正当利益的行为发生。因此,如何顺应财产权客体的扩张趋势,搁置虚拟货币作为财产权客体的“物债”之争,承认虚拟货币的虚拟财产属性,规范相关法律的适用,构建基于私法语境下的财产权规则是维护法律的安定性、促进区块链技术健康发展的应有之义。

Virtual currencies are characterized by monetization of functional roles,value support by consensus,decentralization of issuance and transactions,and high anonymity.At present,different countries have different attitudes towards the identification of legal attributes of virtual currencies that are clearly different from the previous forms of virtual properties.China's judicial practice also varies in its evaluation of the legal attribute,legality of virtual currency,and effectiveness of relevant civil acts.Judging from the dilemma of different judgments in similar cases,denying the effectiveness of civil acts or legal relations related to virtual currency transactions is not the best way to realize the fairness of individual cases and safeguard public interests,and on the opposite,may induce the behavior of obtaining improper interests through litigation.Therefore,we can discuss how to adapt to the expansion trend of the object of property right,put aside the dispute of property or debt attribute of virtual currency as the object of property right,recognize the virtual property attribute of virtual currency,standardize application of law,and construct the property right rules based on the context of private law,in order to maintain the stability of law,as well as the healthy development of blockchain technology.