Abstract

According to the most common view encountered in Polish civil law the bitcoin is a subjective property right. By and large, such a position is not accompanied by any reflection on the juridical nature of this (legal) construct. As it turns out, though, under civil law the bitcoin may not be considered as a (property, personal, exclusive, transferable, effective erga omnes (absolute) or inter partes (chose in action)) right because it is not a normative construct. Since there is no one against whom an action can be brought, the bitcoin cannot be regarded as a chose in action (claim). It neither can it be analyzed as a performance because, after all, it does not constitute a specific behavior (act or omission). However, somewhat simplified, it could be a subject of certain property rights. In the current legal state (de lege lata), the bitcoin could be recognized as a subject of chose in action (claim), whereas in order to make the bitcoin a subject of subjective rights effective erga omnes, an appropriate statutory intervention would be definitely required.