New Trends and Future Development in the Judicial Disposal of Involved Virtual Assets

Recently, there have been some new changes in the judicial disposal of virtual assets involved in cases. In particular, after a certain local public security authority announced a new disposal model, it has attracted widespread attention in the industry. Many judicial authorities and disposal companies are consulting about the specific operational methods of this new model, as well as whether domestic judicial disposal must be carried out through similar intermediary institutions. This article will analyze these issues and explore future development trends.

New Model Analysis

This new model involves a property exchange, which is a state-owned holding company authorized as a network judicial auction platform and a disposal platform for assets involved in criminal proceedings submitted to the national treasury. However, in its publicly available auction information, the focus remains primarily on the disposal of traditional assets involved in cases, and there have not yet been any virtual asset disposal projects.

According to public information, this property exchange has signed a cooperation agreement with a local public security bureau and then entrusted a third-party disposal company to carry out actual disposal, monetization, and capital settlement work abroad. This model essentially remains a "domestic + overseas joint disposal" approach, which has not brought about substantive innovation or breakthroughs.

The Necessity of Intermediary Institutions

There is actually no need to go through intermediary organizations for judicial disposal. According to current regulatory provisions, domestic third-party disposal companies already exist as a temporary compromise for judicial activities, and there is no need to introduce additional intermediary structures.

The controversy surrounding the current judicial disposal model primarily stems from relevant regulatory notices, which strictly prohibit any entity (including judicial authorities) from engaging in the exchange of virtual assets and fiat currency. To circumvent this regulation, the disposal model has evolved from direct monetization domestically to entrusting monetization abroad.

The introduction of intermediary institutions has not brought essential optimization to the existing disposal model, and may instead increase process complexity. Following the principle of simplification, unnecessary steps should be avoided.

Future Development Trends

Currently, the disposal models for virtual assets involved in cases are still not unified across judicial organs nationwide. Some regions still adopt a relatively primitive model, which is to directly cash out within the country. This not only violates regulatory provisions but may also bring legal and political risks.

Although there are relatively compliant disposal methods available, many judicial authorities or disposal companies are not aware of them. In practice, compliance may only be one of the considerations. However, non-compliant disposal methods undoubtedly pose hidden dangers in judicial activities.

The Supreme Court has included the judicial disposal of the virtual assets involved in the case as a research topic, indicating an urgent need for a unified handling method in judicial practice.

There may be three directions for future development:

1. Under the existing regulatory framework, continue to maintain the current compliance-based disposal approach, but there will inevitably be a small number of non-compliance situations.

2. Amend relevant regulations to allow judicial authorities to directly dispose of and liquidate assets abroad.

3. Modify regulations to establish a unified disposal platform in the country, which may be operated by central or provincial agencies, to provide disposal services for judicial authorities in various regions.

Regardless of the method adopted in the future, ensuring compliance and transparency in the disposal process will be key. As the influence of virtual assets in the judicial field continues to grow, it is imperative to establish a sound and unified disposal mechanism.