The legal nature of crypto assets and its reflection in the civil and tax legislation of the Russian Federation

The article analyzes the legal nature of crypto assets in Russian legislation and the specifics of their taxation, focusing on the need to form a legal framework that promotes effective protection of the rights of participants in the turnover of crypto assets. The methodological basis of the research is the dialectical method, the formal logical method, the formal legal method and the method of interpretation of law. The lack of a unified terminology base in the field of digital economy in Russian legislation creates additional difficulties in creating comfortable conditions for the development of the crypto asset market. Currently used various terms such as “virtual assets”, “digital assets”, “crypto assets”, “cryptocurrency” are not fixed in the current legislation. At the same time, the terms existing in Russian legislation do not allow for effective regulation in the field of taxation and civil turnover, since they intentionally exclude the most common crypto assets from their scope. Without clear and unambiguous legal regulation, it is difficult to ensure proper control and taxation of transactions with crypto assets, which can lead to significant tax losses and a decrease in budget revenues. Moreover, the concept of “digital currency” used in Russian legislation does not correspond to the generally accepted meaning in international practice and is mainly considered in an economic context, rather than in a legal one. Such a discrepancy in terminology creates additional difficulties for participants in the cryptocurrency market and creates obstacles to the formation of an effective legal framework for the regulation of the digital economy. According to the results of the study, it was concluded that the current approaches to the development of the terminological apparatus of the regulation of crypto assets have flaws, since they allow for a mixture of concepts and do not imply the formation of a clear hierarchy. The definition of “the digital asset” is proposed for the purpose of filling existing terminological gaps in the current legislation.