秘塔视野 | 英国法院或将重新认定加密货币

By Sam Roberts, Senior Associate, Cooke, Young and Keidan

翻译：秘塔智能法律翻译

It seems that barely a day goes by without cryptocurrencies making headlines in the legal world.

似乎每天都有加密货币成为法律界的头条新闻。

Tax authorities in the UK and New Zealand are writing to taxpayers and businesses reminding them to pay capital gains on, and setting rules for, paying staff salaries in cryptocurrency. Meanwhile the UK's Financial Conduct Authority is soon expected to regulate the trade in crypto-linked derivatives.

英国和新西兰税务部门正在致函纳税人和企业，提醒他们为使用加密货币支付员工工资支付资本收益并制定规则。与此同时，英国金融行为管理局(Financial Conduct Authority)很快将对加密货币衍生品交易进行监管。

A recent English Commercial Court decision granted an asset preservation order over stolen Bitcoin, raising the interesting prospect that an English Court will rule on whether Bitcoin is an asset.

英国商业法院最近的一项判决裁定对被盗的比特币采取资产保全措施，引发了一个有趣的前景，即英国法院将就比特币是否为资产作出裁决。

And of course there was the news in June that a consortium led by Facebook intended to launch their own cryptocurrency, Libra, in 2020.

当然，六月有个消息说 Facebook领导的一个财团打算在2020年推出他们自己的加密货币——天秤币（Libra）。

Sam Roberts, Senior Associate, Cooke, Young and Ke

In truth, cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology on which they are based will soon move from the niche interest of techies into the mainstream. Lawyers of all stripes will need to get to grips with the basics if they are going to keep pace with these developments.

事实上，加密货币和它们所基于的区块链技术很快就会从技术人员的利基兴趣转移到主流。如果想跟上这些发展的步伐，各个行业的律师都需要掌握最基本的东西。

Assets Or Not? 是否为资产?

Perhaps the most important question lawyers will need to keep an eye on is whether cryptocurrencies are assets.

或许律师们需要关注的最重要问题的是，加密货币是否为资产。

Under English law, 'mere' data is typically not thought to be an asset. Already, though, other Common Law jurisdictions are departing from this – e.g. a Singaporean first instance decision handed down earlier this year held that Bitcoin was property.

根据英国法律，"单纯"数据通常不被认为是一种资产。不过，其他普通法司法管辖区已经背离了这一点——例如，今年早些时候新加坡一审判决认为比特币是财产。

"Lawyers of all stripes will need to get to grips with the basics."

"各种类型的律师都需要掌握最基本的东西。"

A lot of consequences could flow from that simple premise, but until it is accepted by the English courts, cryptocurrencies cannot, for example, be held on trust. That would seemingly prevent cryptocurrencies from being bequeathed or passed on intestacy. It also puts businesses that aggregate or hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of their customers in a potentially awkward position.

从这个简单的前提可能会带来很多后果，例如，在被英国法院接受前，加密货币无法以信托方式持有。这似乎可以防止加密货币被遗赠或无遗嘱继承。它还将代表客户汇总或持有加密货币的企业置于一个潜在的尴尬境地。

It's also key for lawyers to realise that owning cryptocurrencies is a world apart from having cash in the bank.

这也是律师们认识到拥有加密货币与在银行拥有现金截然不同的关键所在。

Cash – a physical asset, or 'chose in possession' – can be converted into a 'chose in action' by paying it into a bank and being owed a debt. However, no one owes the owner of a cryptocurrency anything, and nor does the owner have an enforceable right against anyone.

现金——一种实物资产，或者说"占有动产"——可以通过支付给银行并被欠债而转化为"权利动产"。然而，没有人欠密码货币的拥有者任何东西，也没有所有者对任何人有强制执行的权利。

Brave New World美丽新世界

A blockchain is more like a market, where participants can make bids and offers.

区块链更像一个市场，参与者可以在其中进行投标和报价。

This makes tracking down stolen cryptocurrencies something of a brave new world. Traditionally, when cash is stolen and moved from bank to bank, a victim can get valuable information on the defendant from its bank: names, addresses, photographs and onward bank accounts.

这使得追踪盗窃的加密货币成为了一个"美丽新世界"。传统上，当现金被盗并从一家银行转移到另一家银行时，受害人可以从银行获得被告的有效信息:姓名、地址、照片和银行账户。

But none of that is required to create a new public address to receive stolen cryptos: anyone can create any number at any time – in practical terms the number of possible addresses is limitless.

但是，创建一个新的公共地址来接收被盗的加密货币并不需要这些:任何人都可以在任何时候创建任何数字——实际上，可能的地址数量是无限的。

Although in July, the English Commercial Court awarded a victim disclosure relief against Coinbase, a well-known crypto exchange into which the victim was able to trace his Bitcoin, there is an element of luck involved: there is plainly no guarantee that stolen cryptos will end up with a legitimate business sitting on such a goldmine of information.

尽管在7月，英国商业法院对 Coinbase (一种众所周知的密码交换，受害者可以从中追踪到他的比特币)判决了被害人的泄密救济，但其中有一种运气因素:显然不能保证被盗的密码最终会以合法的商业形式出现在如此丰富的信息库中。

Security安全

All of this makes it essential for lawyers to have a better understanding of security. Mainstream cryptocurrencies rely on proof-of-work mathematics – only someone with access to the private key which mathematically correlates to the public key to which the cryptos are sent, can 'spend' them.

所有这些都使得律师们对安全有了更好的理解。主流加密货币依赖于工作量证明数学——只有在数学上与加密发送到的公钥相关的私钥才能"花费"它们。

But equally, that's all that's required. There is no bank monitoring the network for suspicious transactions or unauthorised push payments. Users must make their own decisions as to what level of security is appropriate for their purposes.

但同样，这就是所需要的全部。没有银行监测可疑交易或未经授权的推送支付网络。用户必须自己决定什么级别的安全适合他们的目的。

This may become acutely significant as and when clients start asking law firms either to accept payment in cryptocurrencies, or to hold them in safekeeping.

当客户开始要求律师事务所接受以加密货币支付的款项，或将其妥善保管时，这可能会变得非常重要。

The former will engage solicitors' Anti-Money Laundering obligations and they will need to be tech savvy enough to know that they are receiving 'funds' that have a legitimate source and that they properly belong 'beneficially' to the client.

前者将承担律师的反洗钱义务，他们需要有足够的技术头脑，知道他们得到的"资金"来源合法，并且正确地"受益"于客户。。

The latter will require law firms, rarely in the vanguard of industry-leading cybersecurity, to up their game to mitigate the risk of hacking and theft.

后者要求的律师事务所这一很少担任网络安全先锋角色的群体，提高他们的游戏能力，以减少黑客和盗窃的风险。

Conclusion

结论

The current uncertain state of the law as regards cryptocurrencies will not stay uncertain forever. Change is coming, and practitioners should see the present situation as a temporary reprieve giving them the opportunity to swot up on the tech.

关于加密货币的法律目前的不确定状态不会永远持续下去。变革即将来临，从业者应该把目前的情况看作是暂时的缓和，让他们有机会在技术上大展身手。