블록체인 증거의 형사소송법상 의의

Abstract

In criminal case investigations, if you follow the money, the reality o f the crime is identified. Currently, if you follow the cryptocurrency, th e reality of crime is identified. The flow of money is grasped through warrant execution and analysis of account data held by financial institut ions. In contrast, the flow of cryptocurrency can be grasped through bl ockchain data analysis that anyone can access and check.. Blockchain e vidence is already actively used in the reality of investigation and trial. However, academic research on this is still insufficient. This paper stud ied the meaning of blockchain evidence for each detailed criminal proce dure stage of investigation and trial. Since blockchain is a new science and technology that is still in devel opment, it is important to understand the concept and evaluate its relia bility. To this end, this paper explained the basic operating system of t he blockchain and the concept of clustering, a blockchain analysis techni que. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the integrity of the blockchain can be recognized by understanding the distributed ledger technology an d hash functions. In addition, by understanding how Bitcoin works, it w as confirmed that the clustering heuristic method is a reliable scientific method. Another reason for reliability is that there are many successful cases of investigations based on such blockchain analysis. The investigation is believed to have been successful when blockchain analysis found more direct evidence proving the crime through seizure and search of a specific suspect’s residence or office. In fact, a specifi c case of the United States and Korea, in which conviction was proved through such an investigation, was introduced. In the United States, the issue has been in many cases whether collecting and analyzing blockcha in without a warrant is a violation of Article 4 of the Amendment. Sinc e U.S. precedents cannot claim privacy rights for widely distributed inf ormation, the evidence for blockchain analysis without a warrant maintai ns the view that it is legitimate. Blockchain is impossible to execute w arrants because there is no institution that controls it centrally. It is re asonable to view it as a voluntary investigation because investigative ag encies can access the blockchain site at any time without restriction to view and analyze data. Since personal information cannot be confirmed only by the address on the blockchain, the right to participate in the process of confiscation an d execution of digital evidence is not a problem. In principle, it is desir able that the blockchain analysis results are not presented as evidence in the trial process. Even if the blockchain analysis results are submitt ed as evidence, it has been confirmed that sufficient proof power can b e obtained through the reliability and integrity of the blockchain technol ogy.