Is it possible to purchase virtual currency and transfer it to a third party?

Source: Mankiw Blockchain Law

01 Typical case introduction

< p>Recently, a lawyer received a consultation regarding the purchase and sale of virtual currencies, involving the issue of recovering investment funds from a third party. The consultant, Ms. Liang, purchased 1,000 virtual coins from a certain platform two years ago, and transferred the investment money to the private account of Han, a third party designated by the platform, as agreed, but the platform did not hand over the virtual coins to Ms. Liang. Instead, he packed up his clothes and ran away, unable to find anyone. In desperation, Ms. Liang wanted to ask if she could get the money back from Han directly from Han.

In virtual currency investment transactions, third-party account transfers are often used. When the purchase and sale relationship is invalid or revoked, how to get the investment money back is a difficult problem. At this time, it is okay for the seller to repay according to the price. If he is unable to repay or refuses to repay, the buyer often hopes to let the third-party account that collected the money at the time spit out the money, which will lead to disputes over the return of property in the case of unjust enrichment.

Therefore, this article intends to analyze the issue in the above case, that is, after the currency speculation is invalid, can the buyer directly request the third party to return the investment money paid to the third party?

It should be noted that there is no contractual relationship between Ms. Liang and Mr. Han, there is only a simple settlement action of sending and receiving payment. As for the payment agreement between the platform and Han, it was just another agreement between the platform and Han, and Ms. Liang was not involved. Since Ms. Liang has not reached a contract with Mr. Han, she can only settle for the next best thing and claim her rights and interests from Mr. Han in accordance with the provisions of the law, that is, when safeguarding rights, "if there is an agreement, the agreement shall be followed; if there is no agreement, the law shall be followed."

02 The transaction is invalid, who should I ask for the investment money?

For situations where the invalid sale involves requesting a refund from a third-party account, this article is going to take a "two-step" step to analyze the issues involved in the case:

The first step, Discuss the issue of return of investment funds when the contract is invalidated when the contract is directly delivered by both parties: A purchases virtual currency from B and agrees that both parties will deliver it directly to each other. A has transferred money to B's account. After the sales contract is deemed invalid, A requests B to return the investment money;

The second step is to add variables and discuss the return of investment money when the contract is invalid when both parties to the contract make payments through a third-party account: A purchases virtual currency from B and agrees that A will pay the investment amount to A's account designated by B, and B will directly deliver the virtual currency to A. A has directly transferred money to A's account. The sales contract is deemed invalid, and A requests B and/or A to return the investment money.

Step 1: The investment transaction is invalid. The investment money sent by A to B can be directly recovered

At this time, only parties A and B are involved, and the contractual relationship is clear. , so the return of property when the sale is invalid is also simple: the contractual relationship between A and B is invalid from the beginning, and the property ownership related to the contract needs to be restored to its original state. When Party A and Party B perform the contract handover in person, one party pays the money and the other party hands over the currency; when the contract is invalid, one party returns the currency and the other party returns the money. That is, the investment money and virtual currency of the virtual currency transaction object must be returned to the original owner, and the two are incompatible. owe. In addition, if both parties suffer losses other than investment money or virtual currency due to the invalidity of the contract, the parties need to share such losses according to fault. Of course, this involves another issue. Please go out and go downstairs. For details, see this article Other articles on the public account "If there is a dispute about investing in virtual currency, can the investment be refunded?" 》.

After the virtual currency sales contract is invalid, the investment funds and virtual currency delivered by both parties for the performance of the contract shall be returned at the same time and in both cases. In short, the reason why seller A has the right to possess the investment funds and the reason why seller B has the right to possess the virtual currency is because a sales contract has been reached before. Therefore, when the contract is invalid, there is no reasonable basis for A and B to continue to possess the object of sale. Based on the invalidity clause of civil acts stipulated in Article 157 of the Civil Code, B should return the investment money to A and pay corresponding interest, and A should return the virtual currency. .

Step 2: The investment transaction is invalid. Whether the investment money sent by A to third party A can be directly recovered from A depends on whether A has legitimate reasons

It should be clear that the virtual currency buying and selling relationship between A and B is invalid. Regardless of whether A has the right to directly request A to return money, or whether B has received investment funds or equivalents from A, A has the right to directly request B returns the investment in full.

Secondly, as to whether A can directly require A to return the investment, it depends on whether there are legitimate reasons between A and B, that is, legal reasons for blocking. If there is a legal reason for the obstruction between A and B, then A can only ask B for money, and the road will be dark. If B can’t find any trace of oil on the soles of B’s feet, then A can only cry; if there is no legal reason for the obstruction, exists, then based on Article 157 of the Civil Code's invalidity clause and Article 120 of the unjust enrichment clause, A can either ask B for money or ask A for money. It can be said that he wants to dip his hands in white sugar and wants to dip his hands in brown sugar. Brown sugar, as long as it does not involve repeated profits. As for how B and A will chase after each other and share the accounts between each other afterwards, it is just a matter of internal affairs between them.

Getting back to the subject, whether A has a legal reason to refuse to pay back money to A mainly includes:

1. There is a legal and valid debt between A and B.

For example, if B has borrowed money from A before, or if B accidentally injures passerby A while playing ball and needs to pay for medical expenses, then A, as B's creditor, has the right to accept the corresponding payment from A designated by B. . Even if the sales relationship between A and B is invalid, since the loan debt or tort debt between A and B is still valid, A still has legal grounds to possess the money paid by A on his behalf.

2. The debt between A and B does not exist, is invalid, or has been cancelled.

For example, there is also a virtual currency transaction between A and B, that is, A buys from B, and B buys from A. At this time, B asks the downstream buyer A to pay directly to the upstream seller A, then A The payment of money between B and B and between B and A is completed in a "package". At this time, A directly transfers money to A, which is equivalent to the investment money going from A to B, and then from B to A, that is, A → B → A.

However, if the currency-related transactions between A and B, or between B and A, are invalid, and both B and A have lost the legal reason to occupy the investment funds, then the investment funds should be transferred in kind. Return to the original owner, that is, A ← B ← A. Corresponding to the fact that A pays the price directly to A, when the contract is invalid, A should directly return the investment money to A.

3. There are illegal and criminal situations between A and B, such as trusting, covering up, accomplices in other crimes or other illegal situations.

At this time, the civil act between A and B is invalid because it violates the mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations, which also falls into the above-mentioned invalid situation of the creditor's rights and debts between A and B. Since the suspect is suspected of a criminal offense and involves the intersection of civil and criminal matters, there are more choices in the way of evidence collection and request.

03 Mankiw’s lawyer suggested

1. There are Risks, please be careful when remitting money. In terms of currency-related capital transactions, buyers should strive to connect directly with the seller's account instead of transferring money through a third-party account of unknown origin. Otherwise, it may involve the problem of collecting money after the transaction is invalid, or it may face the risk of "freezing the card" due to fund transactions with unknown accounts.

2. If it is necessary to transfer funds through a third-party account, the buyer should do a thorough investigation and learn more about the relationship between the seller and the third party and the security of the third-party account. wait. When paying a third party, the buyer can agree in advance that when the sales relationship is terminated, invalidated or revoked, the third party will be jointly and severally liable for the return of the investment, or the seller has the right to directly demand money from the third party.

3. In practice, the actual situation of using third-party accounts to transfer money is more complicated: For example, some platforms, under the guise of currency speculation, continue to raise the price of virtual currencies and encourage blindness. Transactions, and using information gaps to communicate in the middle, allowing different customers to pay for the platform, and profit from it... These platforms will explode sooner or later. So platform customers, as victims, seek compensation through civil litigation? Or should I file a criminal report for compensation? At this time, you need to contact a professional lawyer in time.