FinTech & New Digital Instruments. Post-Crisis Developments: Russia and Europe

Abstract

The article examines 2020 post-crisis results and 2021 trends in FinTech regulation development. FinTech, being a relatively new term, has become a completely new industry, which combines rapidly developing technologies and financial products (including digital assets) or services. The year 2020, despite the pandemic and localization (and maybe even more so), seems as significant, if not more so, for market change and further development. The world has changed, and new technologies are vital for successful competition among financial players and even for their survival. Most of the leading international financial centers have focused on regulating FinTech and the use of innovations in classic highly regulated areas. In the article we address the pros and cons of technology regulation and make a comparative analysis of the leading revolutionary trends. The most revolutionary developments have appeared in smaller European countries, which the leaders are forced to follow. Law harmonization has become a natural step forward for Europe to regulate blockchain businesses and to agree on terminology and risk prevention measures for innovation support. The research examines the development and regulation of FinTech in such jurisdictions as Switzerland, Malta, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar and the United States. The approach is interdisciplinary, linking Russian legal norms, applicable rules, and expected results. The main methods used in the research are analysis, comparative-legal, and formal-legal methods.