公平法案：保護比特幣持有人免受政府的侵害

美國政府指出，民事資產沒收將在建立其戰略比特幣儲備方面構成一個關鍵的支柱

A few weeks ago, we briefly touched on how civil asset forfeiture may apply to Bitcoin, a process in which the Government may seize citizen’s assets without accusing a person of a crime. With the US Government stating that civil asset forfeiture will form a key pillar in building its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act of 2023, also known as the FAIR Act, is arguably the most important Bill introduced in Congress today to protect Bitcoin holders from extensive Government overreach. Without it, many may see their bitcoin seized and forfeited on behalf of the Reserve with little to no recourse.

幾週前，我們簡要介紹了民事資產沒收如何適用於比特幣，在這種過程中，政府可以在不指控犯罪的情況下奪取公民資產。隨著美國政府指出，民事資產沒收將在建立其戰略性比特幣儲備方面構成一個關鍵的支柱，這是2023年的《第五修正案完整性恢復法》（也稱為公平法案）是今天國會介紹的最重要的法案，以保護比特幣持有人免受廣泛的政府過度侵害。沒有它，許多人可能會看到他們的比特幣代表儲備金被抓住和沒收，幾乎沒有追索權。

Civil asset forfeiture has long been argued to be in need of drastic reform. Across the country, states have become known to abuse the process to enrich their own law enforcement agencies, which may appropriate the funds collected. From police seizing a Vietnam veteran’s van for serving as a “container” for marijuana, or attempting to appropriate a man’s life savings over a seat belt violation, civil asset forfeiture is “one of the gravest abuses of power in the country today,” according to the Institute for Justice.

長期以來，民事資產沒收一直被認為需要徹底改革。在全國范圍內，各州都已經眾所周知，濫用了豐富自己的執法機構的過程，這可能適合收集的資金。根據司法司法研究所的說法，從警方奪取越南退伍軍人的麵包車以作為大麻的“容器”，或試圖為違反安全帶違反安全帶的救生儲蓄，民事資產沒收是“當今該國最嚴重的濫用權力之一”。

Civil asset forfeiture is particularly problematic as the process creates a financial incentive for law enforcement to forfeit citizen’s property to the Government without due process, as stated by the ACLU. Especially in light of bitcoin’s scarcity and its consequent value appreciation over time, this financial incentive is only exacerbated when civil asset forfeiture is applied to build the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

民事資產沒收尤其有問題，因為該過程為執法部門創造了經濟動力，將公民財產喪失給政府而沒有正當程序，如ACLU所述。特別是考慮到比特幣的稀缺性及其隨著時間的推移的價值增值，只有在使用民事資產沒收來建立戰略性比特幣儲備時，這種經濟激勵才會加劇。

To protect citizens from civil asset forfeiture abuse, the FAIR Act of 2024, which was reintroduced in 2024 co-sponsored by Sen. Lummis, among others, aims to revise the federal laws that govern the process to ensure that civil asset forfeiture proceedings follow due process as governed by the Fifth Amendment.

為了保護公民免受民事資產的沒收濫用，2024年的《公平法案》在2024年由參議員盧米斯（Lummis）等人共同贊助，旨在修訂聯邦法律，該法律管理該程序，以確保公民資產沒收訴訟遵循第五修正案的適當程序。

First, it does so by raising the evidentiary standard from “preponderance” of evidence – meaning that a party’s claim is rather true than not – to clear and convincing evidence, increasing the burden of proof the Government has to provide to enforce a forfeiture.

首先，它通過從“優勢”證據中提高證據標準來做到這一點 - 這意味著一個當事方的主張總比是正確的 - 清除和令人信服的證據，增加了政府必須提供的證明負擔來實施沒收。

With the FAIR Act, enforcing agencies have to establish that there was a substantial connection between the property and the offense as well as that the owner of any interest in the seized property used the property with intent to facilitate the offense, or knowingly consented or was willfully blind to the use of the property by another in connection with the offense. This forms the most important aspect of the Act as it applies to bitcoin.

通過公平行為，執行機構必須確定財產與罪行之間存在很大的聯繫，以及扣押財產中的任何權益的所有者都使用該財產來促進罪行，或故意同意或故意對與罪行有關的財產使用。這構成了該法案適用於比特幣的最重要方面。

At the moment, the Government could seize a person’s legally acquired bitcoin if the UTXO itself had, for example, previously been used in sanctions evasion or touched a darknet market; regardless of whether its owner was aware of the coin’s history when obtaining it. By introducing active consent and willful blindness, the FAIR Act prerequisites that the owner of bitcoin to be forfeited was aware of the acquired BTC’s origins for forfeiture to apply.

目前，如果UTXO本身以前被用於逃避制裁或觸及Darknet市場，政府可以抓住一個人的合法獲得的比特幣；無論其所有者在獲得硬幣的歷史上是否知道該硬幣的歷史。通過引入積極的同意和故意的失明，《公平法案》先決條件是被沒收的比特幣所有者意識到已被收購的BTC起源以申請申請。

The FAIR Act also requires the Government to appoint a counsel to property owners who are financially unable to obtain representation, or if the cost of obtaining representation would exceed the value of the seized property – an issue that has arguably kept many from contesting the forfeiture of assets in the first place, as civil asset forfeiture effectively reverses the burden of proof. At the moment to get your property back you need to prove the Government wrong instead of the Government having to make a case against you.

《公平法案》還要求政府任命律師為財務上無法獲得代表性的財產所有人，或者如果獲得代表的成本超過了被沒收的財產的價值 - 這一問題可以說，這一問題首先無法質疑資產的沒收，因為民事資產被有效地撤銷了證明的證明。目前，要恢復財產，您需要證明政府錯誤，而不是政府必須對您提出訴訟。

“Civil asset forfeiture allows federal law enforcement to seize the property of Americans who haven’t even been charged with or convicted of a crime. Under this system, police can keep cash, cars, and even homes based on mere suspicion of a crime. These losses often become law enforcement’s profit because the burden is on the property owner to prove they should get their property back.” said Sen. Booker, who introduced the Bill together with Sen. Rand Paul.

“民事資產沒收使聯邦執法部門可以奪取甚至沒有被指控或犯有犯罪罪的美國人的財產。在這種系統下，警察可以基於犯罪的懷疑來保留現金，汽車甚至房屋。這些損失通常會成為執法部門的利潤，因為財產所有人應該承擔財產所有人的財產，他們將恢復財產。”布克參議員說，他與參議員蘭德·保羅一起介紹了該法案。

“The government should never have the power to seize a person’s property without due process. Yet, under current civil asset forfeiture laws, Americans are being stripped of their property without ever being charged or convicted of a crime. The FAIR Act directly addresses these injustices and is a critical step toward restoring fairness and accountability, protecting property owners’ rights, and curbing the weaponization of civil forfeiture laws once and for all,” Paul added to the statement.

“政府絕不應該在沒有正當程序的情況下佔領一個人的財產。然而，根據當前的民事資產沒收法律，美國人被剝奪了自己的財產，而不會被指控或犯罪。該公平行為直接解決了這些不公正現象，是恢復公平和問責制的關鍵一步，恢復公平和問責制，以保護財產所有者的權利，保護公民法律，並策劃了一項武器，並為所有的武器添加了一項保羅。

If you are rooting for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, the passing of the FAIR Act should be a prerequisite for its establishment to ensure that the Government’s bitcoin stack is not built on the abuse of its powers.

如果您要紮根戰略比特幣儲備，那麼《公平法案》的通過應該是其建立的先決條件，以確保政府的比特幣堆棧不是建立在濫用其權力之上的。