The article examines the issuance and circulation of private money in the Russian Empire and during the formative period of the USSR, understood as monetary instruments issued by private individuals. It traces the evolution of the legal classification of such instruments — from bearer securities to monetary surrogates prohibited by law. The study distinguishes between private money and monetary instruments whose acceptance was enforced by illegitimate authorities. Unlike the latter, the issuance and circulation of private monetary instruments were driven solely by the needs of property turnover. Based on a historical analysis of the legal regulation of private monetary instruments, the article concludes that the statutory prohibition on the issuance of monetary surrogates should not be unconditionally extended to payment instruments not expressly provided for by law. Establishing a dispositive legal regime for such instruments would foster the development of financial innovations in the context of digitalization.
Лариса Санникова (Wed,) studied this question.