China’s Supreme People’s Court has announced it will research adjudication standards for “emerging cases involving virtual currencies and cross-border finance.” The move was confirmed by Liu Guixiang, a member of the court’s judicial committee, during a press conference in Beijing held under the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan, which frames economic and technology policy through 2030. Liu said courts would also accelerate the release of judicial interpretations regarding civil compensation in insider trading and market manipulation, though no timeline was given.
The announcement comes months after a February joint notice from the People’s Bank of China, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and other agencies that expanded oversight to offshore yuan-pegged stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets. That notice reaffirmed that virtual currencies—including Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether—do not hold legal status as fiat money and cannot circulate as currency. It classified crypto trading, token issuance, market-making, and related financial products as illegal activities and barred institutions from providing settlement, custody, insurance, or account services. Crucially, the notice stated that civil legal acts connected to cryptocurrency investments are invalid, and investors must bear any resulting losses themselves.
Despite the mainland’s sweeping prohibition, Chinese courts have previously recognized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as virtual property in ownership disputes and asset recovery cases. The new research initiative signals an effort by the judiciary to clarify how such digital assets should be treated under civil law, even as the trading ban remains firmly in place. Concurrently, Hong Kong continues to diverge by building a regulated sector, recently issuing its first stablecoin licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial and moving forward with legislative proposals for virtual asset advisory and management services.
