公平法案：保护比特币持有人免受政府的侵害

美国政府指出，民事资产没收将在建立其战略比特币储备方面构成一个关键的支柱

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.

几周前，我们简要介绍了民事资产没收如何适用于比特币，在这种过程中，政府可以在不指控犯罪的情况下夺取公民资产。随着美国政府指出，民事资产没收将在建立其战略性比特币储备方面构成一个关键的支柱，这是2023年的《第五修正案完整性恢复法》（也称为公平法案）是今天国会介绍的最重要的法案，以保护比特币持有人免受广泛的政府过度侵害。没有它，许多人可能会看到他们的比特币代表储备金被抓住和没收，几乎没有追索权。

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.

长期以来，民事资产没收一直被认为需要彻底改革。在全国范围内，各州都已经众所周知，滥用了丰富自己的执法机构的过程，这可能适合收集的资金。根据司法司法研究所的说法，从警方夺取越南退伍军人的面包车以作为大麻的“容器”，或试图为违反安全带违反安全带的救生储蓄，民事资产没收是“当今该国最严重的滥用权力之一”。

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.

民事资产没收尤其有问题，因为该过程为执法部门创造了经济动力，将公民财产丧失给政府而没有正当程序，如ACLU所述。特别是考虑到比特币的稀缺性及其随着时间的推移的价值增值，只有在使用民事资产没收来建立战略性比特币储备时，这种经济激励才会加剧。

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.

为了保护公民免受民事资产的没收滥用，2024年的《公平法案》在2024年由参议员卢米斯（Lummis）等人共同赞助，旨在修订联邦法律，该法律管理该程序，以确保公民资产没收诉讼遵循第五修正案的适当程序。

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，它通过从“优势”证据中提高证据标准来做到这一点 - 这意味着一个当事方的主张总比是正确的 - 清除和令人信服的证据，增加了政府必须提供的证明负担来实施没收。

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.

通过公平行为，执行机构必须确定财产与罪行之间存在很大的联系，以及扣押财产中的任何权益的所有者都使用该财产来促进罪行，或故意同意或故意对与罪行有关的财产使用。这构成了该法案适用于比特币的最重要方面。

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本身以前被用于逃避制裁或触及Darknet市场，政府可以抓住一个人的合法获得的比特币；无论其所有者在获得硬币的历史上是否知道该硬币的历史。通过引入积极的同意和故意的失明，《公平法案》先决条件是被没收的比特币所有者意识到已被收购的BTC起源以申请申请。

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》还要求政府任命律师为财务上无法获得代表性的财产所有人，或者如果获得代表的成本超过了被没收的财产的价值 - 这一问题可以说，这一问题首先无法质疑资产的没收，因为民事资产被有效地撤销了证明的证明。目前，要恢复财产，您需要证明政府错误，而不是政府必须对您提出诉讼。

“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.

“民事资产没收使联邦执法部门可以夺取甚至没有被指控或犯有犯罪罪的美国人的财产。在这种系统下，警察可以基于犯罪的怀疑来保留现金，汽车甚至房屋。这些损失通常会成为执法部门的利润，因为财产所有人应该承担财产所有人的财产，他们将恢复财产。”布克参议员说，他与参议员兰德·保罗一起介绍了该法案。

“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.

“政府绝不应该在没有正当程序的情况下占领一个人的财产。然而，根据当前的民事资产没收法律，美国人被剥夺了自己的财产，而不会被指控或犯罪。该公平行为直接解决了这些不公正现象，是恢复公平和问责制的关键一步，恢复公平和问责制，以保护财产所有者的权利，保护公民法律，并策划了一项武器，并为所有的武器添加了一项保罗。

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.

如果您要扎根战略比特币储备，那么《公平法案》的通过应该是其建立的先决条件，以确保政府的比特币堆栈不是建立在滥用其权力之上的。