Digital Financial Assets: Problems and Prospects of Legal Regulation

Abstract

The emergence and diffusion of digital assets, especially cryptocurrencies, necessitated their legal regulation. The paper investigates the main approaches to the legal regulation, which is already implemented in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and other federal laws. Particular attention is paid to the novelties of the legal regulation that have been envisaged in the draft Federal Law “On Digital Financial Assets.” The draft Federal Law is being currently debated in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The paper analyses in detail the concept of digital financial assets as a specific type of digital rights. The author also compares the concepts of uncertified securities and non-cash money. The author investigates the issues of digital financial assets issuance and peculiarities of their circulation. The paper substantiates the requirements applied to information systems and their operators included into the draft law in compliance with which the issue of digital financial assets is carried out.