Economic Nature and Legal Status of Cryptocurrency

The article focuses on the relevance of establishing legal norms for virtual currency, which is currently working in the gray zone. The article substantiates why cryptocurrency was referred to other property in the framework of civil law. The issues of referring cryptocurrency to such objects of civil rights as monetary funds, currency values, securities, intellectual property, intangible assets, etc. are considered in detail. Based on a comprehensive analysis, the classification of cryptocurrency as a different property within the framework of civil law is substantiated. The author's definition of cryptocurrency is given as a cryptographically protected property with signs of cryptographic authentication, decentralization, management through consensus, and the use of distributed ledgers. The economic essence and legal status of the cryptocurrency proposed by the authors emphasize the exclusively digital version of the existence and use of this object, indicates the possibility of the turnover of this asset, delimits the concept of cryptocurrency, non-cash and electronic money. The definition of a crypto asset as property makes it possible to develop tax legislation, since the implementation of cryptocurrency is close to investment instruments, which makes it possible to clarify the issue of paying such a tax as VAT. Cryptocurrency as property describes not the thing itself, but the legal relations associated with it, that is, those rights that, according to the rules of law, can be exercised. The article also raises one of the main issues that must be resolved - this is the recognition of ownership of this specific type of property. 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 owner of this asset if he legally gained access to the private key by analogy as the subject acquired the ownership of a tangible asset on a legal basis.