Legal nature and types of digital assets in the activities of technology-oriented startups

Abstract

Digital assets play an increasingly important role in people's lives and are ever more often becoming the basis for launching business. The prospects that digital assets open for identifying new sources of profit are stimulating the intensive development of technology-oriented startups. However, despite the active spread of relations arising from digital assets, legal regulation in this area is only at the initial stage of development. The concept and legal nature of digital assets remain unclear at the legislative level in most countries of the world. In the legal doctrine, there are active discussions on the legal nature of digital assets, but it still has neither a clear definition of its essence nor a clear delineation of the objects covered by this concept. Such legal uncertainty makes it much more difficult to run a business based on the use of digital assets. Therefore, the aim of this study is, first, to define the concept and fields of emergence of technology-oriented startups and the types of digital assets used in their activities. Secondly, the article looks into the legal nature of digital assets and considers the possibility to recognize digital assets as a type of property. The recognition of digital assets as a special type of property allows applying to them provisions on the right to ownership, which guarantee the highest degree of protection and best ensure the interests of their owners.