Research On Issues Related To Legal Attributes Of Central Bank Digital Currency

With the rapid development of mobile payment and digital economy,many countries and regions around the world are closely promoting the research and development process of Central Bank Digital Currency and actively exploring the development of financial technology.As a new achievement of financial technology,Central Bank Digital Currency is the financial infrastructure for the development of the digital society in the future.The People’s Bank of China has officially established a digital currency research institute in January 2017,and will start pilot work on e-CNY in some areas of my country in 2020.The essence of Central Bank Digital Currency is "legal accounting currency".Since the central bank is authorized to issue by law,it must have the attributes of legal currency,but at the same time,based on the different forms of existence,the legal theories and rules and regulations related to the legal attributes of traditional legal currency may not be applied to Central Bank Digital Currency,so it is still necessary to solve many problems existing in the legal nature of Central Bank Digital Currency under the current legal system.The first chapter of this paper firstly sorts out the issuance background,issuance and circulation mechanism and related characteristics of Central Bank Digital Currency,and then further clarifies the legal concept of Central Bank Digital Currency and compares it with similar concepts,so as to conclude that it is essentially legal currency.Secondly,based on the theoretical basis of Central Bank Digital Currency,it proposes two problems that it faces under the current legal system and must be solved: First,the nature of Central Bank Digital Currency under the current law is not clear in private law;Second,explore the rights transfer method and relief protection content of Central Bank Digital Currency.The second chapter mainly discusses the identification of the private law nature of Central Bank Digital Currency.By sorting out the viewpoints of the two mainstream theories that exist in the nature of the current Central Bank Digital Currency private law,namely the theory of real rights and the theory of creditor’s rights,and further analyzing the unreasonable aspects of the Central Bank Digital Currency in these two theories,the Central Bank Digital Currency is obtained.The theory of applicable property rights is more reasonable.At the same time,it will also distinguish the relationship between Central Bank Digital Currency and online virtual property,and discuss and analyze whether it can learn from the relevant theories on the legal nature of online virtual property.The third chapter mainly analyzes the new scenarios arising from the transfer of rights and relief protection based on the technical characteristics of Central Bank Digital Currency.First of all,Central Bank Digital Currency still applies "delivery effective doctrine" based on the principle of high liquidity,but because of its smart contract function,it has a high degree of freedom,so the rights circulation of Central Bank Digital Currency may also apply "registration antagonism".Correspondingly,smart contracts for fiat digital currencies also make exceptions to the "possession is ownership" rule.Secondly,the three scenarios of data destruction of Central Bank Digital Currency,currency embezzlement and receipt of counterfeit currency are analyzed to discuss how the rights of Central Bank Digital Currency under private law can be better protected.The fourth chapter puts forward legislative suggestions to solve the problems related to the legal attributes of Central Bank Digital Currency in my country.First of all,the Central Bank Digital Currency should be given the effect of a thing by amending the law,and then the relationship between it and the network virtual property should be further distinguished.Furthermore,it should be clarified in the law that the "delivery effective doctrine" and "possession is ownership" rules are applicable to Central Bank Digital Currency in the case of general rights circulation,while "registration antagonism" is applicable under the basis of smart contract circulation and cannot be applied to "possession is ownership ".Finally,it is suggested that data damage should be regarded as a special form of currency "damage",and the operating agency should provide repair and exchange services for the public.At the same time,it is also necessary to clarify the subject of responsibility when receiving counterfeit Central Bank Digital Currency,so as to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the public.