Transformations  in
Business & Economics

DIGITAL CURRENCY ELECTRONIC PAYMENT IN CHINA: ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS, REGULATORY DILEMMA AND LEGISLATIVE GOVERNANCE PATH¹
Yang Lei, Xiao Haiping, Shang Boyan

ABSTRACT: Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DC/EP) is China’s official digital currency project. It has now entered the stage of small-scale trial operation. During its development process, DC/EP has established an inheritance relationship with virtual currency, private digital currency, and electronic payment systems. Their legal characteristics are continuous. The technical architecture of the system ensures that its capabilities extend beyond legal tender to encompass contracts, transactions, and identity information. As a new form of legal tender, the current monetary crime system may not be able to adapt to the changes brought about by its evolving legal nature. Firstly, the change in its legal status directly leads to the expansion of the scope of legal interests affected by criminal infringement. Secondly, the constituent elements of monetary crime are undergoing a renewal. Thirdly, the crime prevention function of criminal law is weakened. Fourthly, it is difficult to distinguish between concurrent crimes. The method of interpreting criminal law has been unable to adequately address these issues. Therefore, it should be considered to add "The crime of disrupting the order of digital currency management”.

KEYWORDS:  DC/EP, Regulatory Dilemma, Legislative Governance Path.

JEL classification:  F33, K14, G1

¹Acknowledgments:  Acknowledgement. Supported by Xi’an Science and Technology Plan Project Soft Science Research Project (General Project), "Research on Xi’an’s future industry cultivation and policy support system during the "14th Five-Year Plan” period from the perspective of policy combination”, 23RKYJ0059, 2023-2024.