[2020-05-30] China: Parliament passes law allowing inheritance of Bitcoin

[bbc.reporter]

Similar to Dovey Wan's skepticsm in her tweet, I speculate that there might be a hidden reason about this legislation.

It might cause to gain technicalities in the law that might give the Chinese government the right to know and investigate your wallets. It might also be as simple as making bitcoin inheritance as taxable hehehe.

In any case, Dovey Wan was the first person to expose the Plus Token scam. Everyone thought it was invented fud when it was reported in this forum.



Earlier this week, locals reports suggested new civil legislation had been submitted for the government’s approval, including “virtual assets” in the list of items that could be passed down. The law was adopted in a now-concluded parliament meeting, as Beijing’s Xinhua Net confirmed on May 28.

In the third sessions of the Thirteenth National People’s Congress presided by President Xi Jinping, China updated the country’s existing civil code; new legislation that now includes “virtual currencies” as part of a citizen’s civil rights. The drafts were first submitted on May 22 to the committee, after “years of deliberation.”

This means if a Chinese citizen holding Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other digital asset dies, his “will” would legally allot all holdings to a  nominated person. Other “internet”-based properties, such as in-game currencies, can also be passed down.

Read in full https://cryptoslate.com/china-parliament-passes-law-allowing-inheritance-of-bitcoin-and-cryptocurrencies-a-changing-crypto-narrative/

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[Lucius]

I do not see any hidden intention in this, it is something that only allows digital property to be included in the inheritance, no matter what it is actually about. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are only part of what is included in this package, so it should not be seen only as something that is aimed directly at crypto.

Two years ago, the first verdicts appeared in China, which ruled that Bitcoin should be protected as a property. This is just something that goes in that direction, confirming that all things are legalized at the national level, not that decisions are made individually in local courts. The fact that some see hidden reasons in such laws is quite logical, because it is still a system that always tries to have everything under control.

The court concluded that, whether bitcoin is a legal tender or not, does not have an impact on the fact that bitcoin ownership should be protected legally based on China’s contract law, adding:

“Bitcoin has the nature of a property, which can be owned and controlled by parties, and is able to provide economic values and benefits.”

The court is one of the Arbitration Committees established in China after the country enacted a law in 1995 enabling city governments to form such entities to rule on economic disputes relating to contract issues in areas such as business, finance and real estate.

[snipie]

For services where KYC is a must (exchanges...), this law may help the family of a deceased person to recover his assets without knowing his credentials. However I wonder know how they could recover it from a wallet without knowing anything about it. It turns to be the same, you need to inform your family in your will about the keys.
So basically, apart KYC legal staff which this law may be useful, everything else will be included in taxes (not sure if China forces taxes on inheritance) if revealed in the will.

[NeuroticFish]

I do not see any hidden intention in this

Well, this works only if one passes KYC, so the government knows about his funds. And this leads sooner or later to some taxes (especially when they will sell crypto).
Nothing unusual, in theory at least, since people are supposed to pay taxes on the income from their investments (in some countries may be even for their possessions, but I don't know how is it in China).

[bbc.reporter]

The 3 of you might be correct. I might be watching too many movies during this quarantine hehehe. I remain skeptical, however. This law might require you under the authority of the government to KYC yourself.

[hugeblack]

I searched for the modified version for 2020 but I did not find it, if someone knows a link to it I hope to provide it.
According to this version, according to the provisions of Article 34, I quote the following:

　　繼承遺產應當清償被繼承人依法應當繳納的稅款和債務，繳納稅款和清償債務以他的遺產實際價值為限。超過遺產實際價值部分，繼承人自願償還的不在此限。
　　繼承人放棄繼承的，對被繼承人依法應當繳納的稅款和債務可以不負償還責任。

Source ---> Click here

Translate it:

Inheritance of the estate shall pay off the taxes and debts payable by the decedent in accordance with the law, and the payment of taxes and debts shall be limited to the actual value of his estate.

Consequently, the law will give the government the right to obtain inheritance taxes if it is in cryptocurrencies while defining them as assets or property, not banknotes.

It does not differ with the governmental approach that attempts to pressure cryptos to control the government monetary block.

[sunsilk]

In fact, this is really important, because if you do not develop this topic, your family may lose your savings in the future.

You can be the first mover to teach your family how to keep bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that you or they may be owning. It wouldn't be hard for you to tackle it to them because it's your family.

Unlike if the person you'll be teaching personally isn't your relative and you don't know the background, there might be some confidence and compatability issues.

Even if there is no law that includes bitcoin as inheritance, you can create your own last will testament or if you don't like the idea, as you have thought them how to import and access your wallets, there's no involvement needed with a third party.

[gentlemand]

Hasn't China issued more decrees over Bitcoin as property than most other places? I seem to recall multiple judgements declaring it a tangible thing to own with the resulting rights.

No way am I going to bother getting any crypto involved in formal inheritance stuff and I dunno why anyone else would either. There's no need for it unlike conventional finance unless we're talking exchange accounts. I'll leave private instructions for the right time. If anyone asks in future they can say they were handed control many years before I carked it. There's no way of proving otherwise.

[bbc.reporter]

@gentlemand. There is certainly not a need to tell the authoritarian Chinese government your wallets and show them that you own any type of cryptocoin hehehe. Every Chinese citizen in the cryptospace should keep their privacy safe.

[salamat700]

I am not so sure but it seems that this is just simply another encroachment by the government into the lives of its people and now they are including those who are dealing with cryptocurrency. And I am not wondering why this is so considering the kind of regime that China has. In its mindset, it will try to do anything possible to have the grip on people's lives. Unfortunately, this is not inclusive to China as even other governments of big countries are thinking the same: influence and control.

[Ozero]

Making the process of cryptocurrency inheritance in the manner prescribed by law should be very cumbersome and this procedure can be circumvented if the testator simply transfers or establishes another way to transfer the secret keys from his wallets to the heir. Why take risks and leave secret keys to third parties. Cryptocurrency is a special type of inheritance. Other approaches are needed here.

[bbc.reporter]

@Ozero. It might be more advisable not to declare your bitcoins and sell some of your property to buy more bitcoins to hide wealth hehehe. No taxes paid and your wealth is kept from the eyes of an authoritarian government hehehe.

[gentlemand]

@Ozero. It might be more advisable not to declare your bitcoins and sell some of your property to buy more bitcoins to hide wealth hehehe. No taxes paid and your wealth is kept from the eyes of an authoritarian government hehehe.

No idea what the deal is with inheritance tax in China but that's the one I'd be looking to avoid. I have no problem with my descendants paying capital gains, I'll be dead as fuck anyway. Inheritance tax feels like one final insult I'll be choosing to skip.

I'll leave a letter saying 'thusly I hereby doeth hand over mine coins' signed and with an empty space where the date is for them to fill in that's retrospective enough to give that tax the finger.

[bbc.reporter]

@gentlemand. It is not a choice, it should be avoided. This is not good news for bitcoin or any cryptocoin similar to how some people might interpret this as an act of acceptance by the Chinese government.

This would only be another way to monitor you and the movement of your wealth by an authoritarian government and you paid them for it hehehehe.

[gentlemand]

This is not good news for bitcoin or any cryptocoin similar to how some people might interpret this as an act of acceptance by the Chinese government.

But it's inevitable news. Bitcoin is worth something. They recognise that. It's going to be taxed like anything else. It's not in itself a horrific conspiracy. It's just a fact of life and brings it in line with everything else. Bitcoin is not 'special' or magically exempt in that regard.

[Harlot]

I don't see any kind of new "law" here. We already know that there are only two kinds of assets here tangible and intangible assets simply if we can't touch it then it just falls in intangible assets such as stocks, bonds, as well as assets that only exists digitally like Bitcoin this isn't really a law but for me a confirmation of what we already know and I don't think it change since even intangible assets are inherited by their heirs without any kind of special laws like what is created by China.

[hatshepsut93]

For services where KYC is a must (exchanges...), this law may help the family of a deceased person to recover his assets without knowing his credentials. However I wonder know how they could recover it from a wallet without knowing anything about it. It turns to be the same, you need to inform your family in your will about the keys.
So basically, apart KYC legal staff which this law may be useful, everything else will be included in taxes (not sure if China forces taxes on inheritance) if revealed in the will.

If they can't get a wallet then the coins will be considered lost, there's nothing they can possibly do. It can happen with non-crypto too, like if a person adds some assets to their will, but then loses them.
Maybe before this law crypto wasn't recognized, so whomever got the wallet first got to keep it, but generally speaking crypto is always counted as a property even if not directly specified, there were precedents in other countries when people were, for example, paying taxes on crypto or making deals with it before any laws were passed.

I don't know how these news should be viewed, on one hand it's good that crypto gets recognized, on the other hand I don't trust anything that comes from the Chinese government, how many times they "banned" Bitcoin already?

[Ozero]

@Ozero. It might be more advisable not to declare your bitcoins and sell some of your property to buy more bitcoins to hide wealth hehehe. No taxes paid and your wealth is kept from the eyes of an authoritarian government hehehe.

If you think carefully, this law establishes additional opportunities for the testator. He will always have the right to choose whether to use it or not. Including because of whether he wants to show the availability of his bitcoins to state bodies or not. Therefore, I do not see anything wrong with this law.

[hotmom]

This is normal. Other countries should do the same.

[lijian2019]

China, the provisions of relevant laws and regulations show that bitcoin is not issued by the monetary authority, does not have the monetary attributes of legal compensation and coercion, is not a real currency, but there are no laws and regulations that explicitly prohibit the parties to invest and trade bitcoin, but remind each department to strengthen the reminder of the risk of investment to the public, and ordinary people support it on the premise of taking their own risk There is freedom to participate in bitcoin transactions, but rational investment is required; Internet websites providing bitcoin registration, transaction and other services shall be filed with the telecommunications administration. "
In some cases, the court has supported the legality of bitcoin trading. At present, more and more courts have formed a consensus, which supports the legality of digital currency trading, such as special currency.