Digital and Virtual Objects of Modern Civil Turnover: The Issue of Differentiation of Concepts

The paper distinguishes the categories of a virtual and digital object of civil turnover. The author determines qualifying signs that allow us to assert the non-identity of the designated definitions. From the point of view of the conclusions drawn, the paper systematizes objects of civil turnover in the electronic environment. Digital (digital rights, including digital financial assets and utilitarian digital rights, electronic money, digital ruble) and virtual (digital currency) objects are distinguished. The necessity of establishing a different legal regime for the selected categories is substantiated. A comparison of the legal relations that develop during the turnover of «traditional» and «digital» objects allows us to identify similarities and fundamental differences: interaction is carried out in the information environment by a means that promotes the exercise of rights and duties; subjects are located geographically in different places and may have different jurisdictions; although subjects undergo identification, as a rule It is impossible to establish their identity; legal relations may be influenced by entities that have rights to information platforms (operators). The range of participants in the digital legal relationship is wider than the «traditional» one. It can include entities that provide access to network protocols and web services, and information intermediaries, etc. It is proved that the mechanism of legal regulation directly depends on the type of ownership of the object of civil turnover, and not on whether it belongs to the category of digital or virtual objects.