China's Supreme Court has called for the extension of legal rights related to the ownership of digital objects, including digital currencies.
A guide published yesterday by the Supreme People's Court and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) calls on the country's judiciary to extend the protections of digital objects. In particular, the guide specifies the legal system should improve the protection of new types of property rights, such as digital currencies, virtual online assets and data.
However, the document does not make any explicit mention to cryptos or gives a definition of digital currency.
Nevertheless, the measure comes now the development of China's national digital currency is pretty advanced.
While some Chinese provincial and municipal courts have already made decisions in which digital currencies such as Bitcoin have been treated as virtual properties, this is the first time the country's main judicial body has addressed the issue.
The PBOC has been testing the digital yuan for quite some time. Thus, in January iHodl reported the country's central bank had said the high-level design of the currency had been fully completed. Shortly after, it was known the bank had started to test the currency in four Chinese cities in April: Shenzhen, Xiong'An, Chengdu and Suzhou. However, the fact that the coin is already being tested does not necessarily mean it will be launched imminently.
There is no timetable for when it will be officially launched. Nevertheless, we actually have some clues as to when the launch might occur, as it has been reported the digital yuan could be used during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
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