Chinese Civil Code Gets Updated To Protect Cryptocurrency Inheritance

China’s relationship with cryptocurrencies continues to be complicated, as reports suggest that the country could allow for Bitcoin inheritance. Chinese blockchain insider Dovey Wan revealed yesterday that the Chinese parliament recently revealed a draft of its civil code, which includes protection for property, contracts, and inheritance, amongst other things.

Bitcoin Classed as Inheritable

While the law will help promote the rule of law across the country, it could also allow people to pass on their Bitcoins. In an exposition, China Central Television revealed that the Chinese government introduced a framework that could affect cryptocurrency owners in the law about inheritance. The law currently involves copyrights, cultural relics, housing, and civil income. However, the new code replaced most of these terms and stipulates that a person’s legacy becomes their personal legal property when they die. The “legacy” also touches on virtual, Internet-based property such as Bitcoin.

Speaking with the news source, Lixin Zhang, a professor at Renmin University of China, explained that the former draft of the Chinese inheritance law had become outdated and was unable to meet the needs of the modern society. Given that the Chinese economy has moved towards industrialization and technology in the past few decades, it is expedient that the law evolves.

Of course, the fact that the law could protect Bitcoin doesn’t necessarily mean much when the government has done all it can to restrict crypto access in the country. Late last year, the Chinese government went on a sweeping operation to close down cryptocurrency exchanges, trading firms, and other institutions that offered services.

Legal Comfort for the Digital Yuan

The government’s anti-crypto campaign could also expand to the mining space. Last week, Asian FinTech news site PA News confirmed in a tweet that Sichuan’s financial authority had directed its subordinate agencies to guide companies in the mining space on how to cease their operations.

As the tweet explained, the ban will start with the region’s hydroelectric power system, which has been of immense benefit to the mining firms centralized around there. The authority has reportedly ordered hydroelectric plants to pull all investments into crypto mining projects at once, while new plans should be nixed.

Any hydroelectric power plant that fails to comply will face an investigation and possible further consequences. So, while the government might appear to be looking out for Bitcoin-owning citizens, there’s significant cause to believe otherwise.

 At the same time, it could be that the government is clearing a path for its civil code to be friendly to its new Digital Yuan. For all intended purposes, the state-backed asset will be a cryptocurrency. Thus, it will enjoy the same legal protections as Bitcoin.

Allowing legal protections could allow for people to have more faith in the asset, especially given that the government is drawing closer to a rollout. It has already conducted tests on the asset across several regions, and many anticipate a rollout date before the year draws to a close.