Shanghai Judge Sun Jie calls virtual currency a commodity with property attributes in a commentary on a 2017 business dispute.
A judge in the People’s Court of Songjiang District in Shanghai, China has released an article on the court’s WeChat account about the legality of issuing virtual currency in China. She was commenting on a business dispute dating to 2017, but her opinion sheds light on cryptocurrency’s murky legal status in China.
An agricultural development company signed a “Blockchain Incubation Agreement” with an investment management company to produce a white paper as the basis for the issuance of a cryptocurrency, paying 300,000 yuan (about $44,400 at the time) for the service.
A year later, no token had been produced, and the investment company said the agricultural company should develop an app before the token could be issued. Instead, the agricultural company sued to recover the money it had paid.
