The Private Law Protection of Cryptocurrency Circulation
——from the Perspective of Private International Law LIANG Ting-yu
（Institute of Private International Law，Wuhan University，Wuhan 430072，Hubei，China） Abstract：Cryptocurreny is the most important derivative of blockchain. At present ，scholars around the world have tried to ease the tension between this new technology and traditional private law. In the academic field ，the preliminary research on the private law protection mode of cryptocurrency circulation has been well established. It is true that the preliminary study has positive significance for the clarification of the rights and obligations of the parties to the cryptocurrency case ，but the foreign elements of cryptocurrency cases are ignored. The foreign element will have direct effect on right of jurisdiction and application of law，and there are significant legal conflicts among countries in terms of blockchain related definitions. If cases are not guided by conflict laws but directly apply domestic laws for trial ，it will lead to different judgments on similar cases in various countries ，and there will be systemic differences in the private law protection of parties to cryptocurrency transactions. So ，it is necessary for us to reconsider the private law protection of cryptocurrency circulation from the perspective of private international law. In fact ， exploring which law protects and regulates the circulation of cryptocurrency is an characterisation issue in private international law. Therefore，the author first emphasizes the determination of foreign elements in cryptocurrency cases ，and makes it clear that the foreign elements are derived from the operation mode of the blockchain and the borderless nature of the Internet ；and second， after determining the foreign-related nature of the case，it is necessary to give full play to the tool value of private international law to characterise the facts of the case，and it is also necessary to consider whether the identified conflict norms are conducive to the alleviation of legal conflicts and whether they can enhance the predictability of the law.
Key words：blockchain；cryptocurrency circulation；foreign elements；private international law；characterisation