The Chinese government issued a statement on November 10 saying that anyone who steals digital collections, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), will be subject to theft penalties.
It outlines three views on the type of crime that includes theft of digital collections, with the first two classifying these as data or digital property. However, the statement emphasizes the third view, which views digital collections as both data and virtual property that would fall under the umbrella of “co-perpetration.”
The statement explained that stealing a digital collection also involves penetrating the system on which it is housed, thereby also committing the offense of illegally obtaining computer information system data and theft.
“The theft of digital collections violates the protection law and the interests of the crime of illegally obtaining computer information system data.”
It delves into this topic, calling digital collections ‘networked virtual property’ and emphasizing that in the criminal justice context ‘collections must be recognized as property’.
“Since property is the subject of property crime, digital collections can of course also become the subject of property crime. If the digital collection is stolen by breaking into the system or through other technical means, the act also harms property law.”
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NFTs were specifically mentioned, establishing that digital collections are derived from the concept of NFTs “abroad” and use blockchain technology to “map specific assets” with “unique, uncopyable, tamper prevention and permanent storage features’.
The statement said that while China has not opened the “secondary power market” for digital collections, “consumers can rely on trading platforms to conduct purchases, collections, transfers, destruction and other operations to achieve exclusive possession, use and disposal capabilities .”
Despite China’s official ban from 2021 on almost all crypto-related activities and transactions, with the exception of simply owning cryptocurrencies, there has been a lot of buzz about NFTs lately.
Local Chinese media reported on October 25 that Alibaba-owned peer-to-peer marketplace Xianyu had removed censorship of “non-fungible tokens” and “digital assets”-related keywords in its search.
Before that, China Daily, an English-language newspaper owned by the Chinese government, announced on October 6 that it would create its own NFT platform and award 2.813 million Chinese yuan ($390,000) to a third-party contractor to design the platform’s compliance its specifications.
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