According to the legal consultations Lawyer Shao has received in recent years from cryptocurrency novices or newcomers in the workplace, they often have complicated emotions about job opportunities in the Web3 industry. How can we describe these emotions? Fear, terror, expectation, longing, helplessness, confusion... In short, there are all kinds of emotions.

They seem to feel that the business their company is engaged in is not allowed by the country? But they also feel that their leaders have said that everything they do is legal and compliant, so they are struggling between continuing to work or quitting immediately. In order to dispel this fear of the unknown, they choose to consult a lawyer.

Not all Web3 jobs can earn 40,000 or 50,000 yuan a month or even more. Some ordinary operations, customer service, or assistant positions may only earn a few thousand yuan, which is not much different from traditional industries. In other words, not all cryptocurrency workers are seeking "riches and honors in danger."

At the end of each consultation, after answering the legal questions, I will also give them some advice on career planning or career development, and ask them if the company's business is really at risk, would they consider leaving? Most of the answers are: "I will wait and see, and then withdraw when I find something wrong!" OK, after all, knowing the possible risk points, you will no longer be blindly afraid, which is good.

This series of articles will be updated irregularly based on the topics of concern to people working in the cryptocurrency world.

Let’s talk today about the salary issue that all workers are concerned about.

Article by Lawyer Shao Shiwei

01. There seems to be nothing wrong with paying wages in tokens?

Since we are all surfing Web3, it seems normal to pay wages in the form of virtual currency. Of course, not all Web3 companies only pay virtual currency to employees. Some pay RMB, some pay mainstream stable currency USDT, some pay project tokens, and some allow employees to choose the type of income they want to receive, and can pay in a combination of RMB + virtual currency.

So are the above forms of wage payment legal?

According to the following provisions, the act of paying wages with virtual currency violates the law and should be deemed invalid.

Interim Provisions on Wage Payment

Article 5 Wages shall be paid in legal tender and may not be paid in kind or in securities instead of cash.

Law of the People's Bank of China

Article 16 The legal currency of the People's Republic of China is the Renminbi.

Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with Risks of Speculation in Virtual Currency Transactions

Virtual currency does not have the same legal status as legal currency. Virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether are not legal tender and should not and cannot be circulated and used as currency in the market.

Whether a legal relationship is valid or invalid is a question that legal professionals are concerned about. However, for companies and employees, they do not care whether the issuance/receipt of virtual currency is invalid. They only care about whether they owe the other party money and whether they can get the money. After all, for people in the currency circle, currency is equivalent to money.

So in practice, if both parties agree to pay wages in virtual currency, what kind of labor arbitration disputes will arise? How will the court rule?

02. Common types of disputes

1. Both parties agreed to issue USDT, but there was a dispute over whether the salary was paid. How would the court rule?

The court determined that the company should pay a total of 30,000 yuan in wages to the employee in a certain month. The employee only acknowledged receiving 10,000 yuan. The company said that the other 20,000 yuan was virtual currency, but the employee did not acknowledge that the virtual currency he received was wages. Therefore, the court ruled that the company still had to pay the employee an additional 20,000 yuan.

Court opinion:

Article 50 of the Labor Law of the People's Republic of China clearly stipulates that wages should be paid monthly to the workers in cash. Article 8 of the Foreign Exchange Management Regulations of the People's Republic of China stipulates that foreign currency is prohibited from circulating in the territory of the People's Republic of China, and foreign currency shall not be used for settlement, except as otherwise provided by the state. In this case, Atom Chain Company paid wages in virtual currency, which violated the law, and Zhang Yingchun explicitly denied that the above-mentioned funds were paid wages, so this court did not accept Atom Chain Company's claim1.

2. What should I do if the company promised to give token rewards to employees but did not do so?

The company promised to issue 30,000 IOB tokens to employee Xiao Cao, equivalent to RMB 600,000. However, it did not actually pay. Xiao Cao filed a lawsuit against the company, demanding that the company pay the token discount of RMB 600,000. However, the court did not support it.

Court opinion:

From the WeChat chat records provided by the defendant, it can be seen that the plaintiff's legal representative did promise to pay the defendant with tokens as rewards to the employees, but did not explain under what conditions the tokens could be redeemed. From the defendant's evidence, although the plaintiff paid tokens to other resigned employees, they were not actually redeemed at a discount. Moreover, tokens are virtual currencies, and their value is uncertain. The token value stated in the table is at best an estimate at the time. The defendant's request for the plaintiff to pay the discount for IOB tokens is unfounded, and this court does not support it.2

3. Can I sue for re-issuance of virtual currency if my wages are in arrears?

cannot.

This should be easy to understand. Wages should be paid in legal tender. Virtual currency is not legal tender. If the fact of withholding labor remuneration exists, even if according to the transaction habits during the period of the labor relationship, the company has always paid U and the employees have received U and both parties have no objection, when filing a lawsuit, the employee can only claim RMB. Similarly, the company cannot claim to pay the employee 3 in virtual currency.

03. Tips from Lawyer Shao

The above cases and judgments are for reference only and cannot be completely applied by analogy. The reasons are as follows:

  • Although such disputes are common in practice, there are not many cases where employees file lawsuits in court for practical reasons (such as management issues, or concerns about their own criminal risks). What we can see can only represent the views of the court or the judge who heard the case. Without sufficient data support, it is not universal.

  • Our country is not a country of case law, and the facts of each case are different;

  • The relevant provisions of virtual currency are only scattered in various notices and announcements, and there are no clear provisions at the legislative level, so there is a gap in the application of laws in labor dispute cases involving virtual currency;

  • Even in ordinary labor dispute cases, judges in different regions, different jurisdictions in the same region, and different judges in the same jurisdiction all have some subjective views on the fact finding and application of law in the case.

Therefore, it is recommended to consult a professional lawyer for each specific case.

 

1(2019)Jing0105Minchu63366

2(2019)沪0101民初16673号

3(2022)Jing03MinZhong12380