People's Court Report: "Mining" Condenses Social Abstract Labor, Stealing Virtual Currency Constitutes Theft

The People's Court published an article "Criminal Law Definition of Illegal Stealing of Virtual Currency", which pointed out that stealing virtual currency constitutes the crime of theft. As an economic property, it must have value, including utility, scarcity and disposable. Scarcity is reflected in the total amount of virtual currency is constant, not unlimited supply. Disposability is reflected in the use of asymmetric encryption technology for virtual currency, which is stored in a "wallet" (ie address), and can be controlled after obtaining the address and private key. Utility is reflected in the virtual currency as a specific data code, which must be generated through "mining", and "mining" condenses social abstract labor.
The article also points out that stealing virtual currency constitutes the crime of illegally obtaining computer system data, virtual currency has data nature, and illegal theft of virtual currency constitutes the crime of illegally obtaining computer system data. For the determination of the amount of virtual currency stolen, it is more reasonable to calculate the amount of virtual currency involved in the case when the defendant commits the crime rather than when the victim purchases virtual currency.