Cryptocurrency as a New Financial and Legal Instrument: Defining Cryptoassets in Property Law

Abstract

The scientific research study is about the approach to crypto assets in property law. The cryptocurrency, possessing the signs of many civil rights, at the same time does not belong to any of them and does not correspond with anyone in a complete way. This is due to the uniqueness of cryptocurrency as a phenomenon itself. Cryptocurrencies can also represent different types between cryptocurrency holders, as well as between holders and creators of the platform, which have been concluded by implicit actions. The authors propose new definition for cryptocurrency through the cryptographically protected property concept, which has the feature of cryptographic authentication, decentralization, management through consensus, the use of distributed ledgers. According to the authors, the starting point for determining the ownership of the cryptocurrency should be that the subject of the right will be the asset’s owner if he or she legally gained access to the private key, by analogy as the subject acquired the ownership of a tangible asset on a legal basis.