Digital currency: features of regulation in the Russian Federation

The subject of research, relevance. The development of digital technologies has an impact on almost all areas of society, including the financial sphere. This is the reason for a serious controversy to develop recently and to continue both at the international and national levels in terms of approaches to their legal regulation. This discussion affects both public law and private law. The emergence of such a phenomenon as digital currencies raises the question of their legalization for legislators of various states. The answer to such a question cannot be found without studying the legal consequences of making such a decision for both individuals and the financial system of the state. The purpose. The article puts forward and substantiates a hypothesis that the choice of legal methods for regulating virtual assets is a matter of legal policy, and not just matter of research in the field of defining virtual assets as objects of law or type of property. As a result, when choosing methods of legal regulation of virtual (digital) assets, not only the impact of these legal entities on legal economic turnover (including such issues as the possibility of using excess generated electricity or taxation issues) should be assessed, but also the risk of stimulating illegal "economic" turnover (turnover of things and services in the Darknet, limited turnover of things, for example, drugs), as well as the impact on the financial system. The methodological basis. Various scientific methods of cognition were used to write the article, including system-structural, formal-logical, comparative-legal and dialectical. The research is based on the principles of interdependence and interconnectedness of social processes. The main results, scope of application. The article examines the main approaches to the regulation of digital currencies, studies the phenomenon of digital currency itself, assesses the circumstances that aroused massive interest and enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies. An analysis of current positive legal material is presented, in particular, the approach to the regulation of digital currency contained in the Russian Federal Law of July 31, 2020 No. 259- FZ "On digital financial assets, digital currency and on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation". The main differences between digital currencies and such a legal phenomenon as digital rights (including utilitarian digital rights and digital financial assets) are noted. It is noted that in most Russian scientific works in the field of law devoted to digital currencies, attention is paid to the definition of digital currency as an object of civil rights, the foreign experience of attempts of legal regulation of cryptocurrency is considered, emphasis is placed on the positive aspects of the legalization of cryptocurrency for individuals, the risks of legalization of cryptocurrency for individuals, as well as the tasks of regulators in the digital economy are investigated. In addition, some scientific works are devoted to issues related to the digitalization of the economy and digital security. However, little attention is paid to the consequences of the legalization of digital currencies for the monetary system of the state and the potential risks for the stability of monetary systems. Conclusions. Interest in digital currencies may decrease in following situations. Firstly, if the services provided by payment systems are more efficient, reliable, affordable and cheap for the consumer. Secondly, during the implementation of the central bank digital currency project (in Russian case - the digital ruble), since digital currencies issued by central banks have the advantages of private digital currencies, but are devoid of their disadvantages.

1. Kucherov I.I. Cryptocurrency (ideas of legal identification and legitimation of alternative means of payment). Moscow, Centre YUrInfoR Publ., 2018. 204 p. (In Russ.).

2. Saveliev A.I. Cryptocurrencies in the system of objects of civil rights. Zakon, 2017, no. 8, pp. 136-153. (In Russ.).

3. Sitnik A.A. Legal regulation of virtual (crypto) currencies: the opinion of lawyers and foreign experience. Vestnik Universiteta imeni O.E. Kutafina (MGYUA) = Courier of Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL), 2019, no. 7, pp. 117-120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17803/2311-5998.2019.59.7.117-120 (In Russ.).

4. Sitnik A.A. Regulation and control over the circulation of virtual currencies in the United States at the state level. Yuridicheskoe obrazovanie i nauka = Juridical Education and Science, 2018, no. 10, pp. 32-37. (In Russ.).

5. Sitnik A.A. Regulation of virtual currencies in the United States at the federal level. Yuridicheskoe obrazovanie i nauka = Juridical Education and Science, 2018, no. 7, pp. 41-44. (In Russ.).

6. Artemov N.M., Arzumanova L.L., Sitnik A.A., Zenin S.S. Regulation and Control of Virtual Currency: to be or not to be. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics, 2017, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 1428-1435.

7. Artemov N., Arzumanova L., Sitnik A., Smirnikova Y, Zenin S. El modelo de regulación legal de la circulación de monedas virtuales: La investigación sociológica y legal. JURÍDICAS CUC, 2020, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 127-144. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17981/juridcuc.16.1.2020.05 (In Spanish).

8. Rozhdestvenskaya T.E., Guznov A.G. Digital Financial Assets: Problems and Prospects of Legal Regulation. Aktual'nye problemy rossiiskogo prava = Actual Problems of Russian Law, 2020, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 43-54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17803/1994-1471.2020.115.6.043-054 (In Russ.).

9. Sitdikova R.I., Sitdikov R.B. Digital rights as a new type of property rights. Imushchestvennye otnosheniya v Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 2018, no. 9, pp. 75-80. (In Russ.).

10. Pastushenko, E., Zemtsova, L., Neverova, N., Malykhina, E. The legal authority changes of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in digital economy sphere: public and private aspects. REVISTA INCLUSIONES, 2020, volumen 7, Numero Especial. Octubre / Diciembre, pp. 45-54.

11. Lebed (Efremova) V.V, Teleshina N.N. Actual problems of cyber law (review of materials of the Second International Summer School on Cyber Law). Pravo. Zhurnal Vysshey shkoly ekonomiki = Law. Journal of the Higher School of Economics, 2014, no. 2, pp. 173–183. (In Russ.).

12. Tereshchenko L.K. Security of information when using cloud services by public authorities. Pravo. Zhurnal Vysshey shkoly ekonomiki = Law. Journal of the Higher School of Economics, 2014, no. 1, pp. 129–139. (In Russ.).

13. Rozhdestvenskaya T.E., Guznov A.G., Efimova L.G. Private banking law: textbook. Moscow, Prospekt Publ., 2020. 776 p. (In Russ.).

14. Tikhomirov Yu.A., But N.D. (eds.) Ensuring the rule of law in the digital economy: textbook for universities. Moscow, Yurait Publ., 2020. 250 p. (In Russ.).

15. Gorodov O.A. Digital legal relationship: species and content. Pravo i tsifrovaya ekonomika = Law and Digital Economy, 2019, no. 3, pp. 5-10. (In Russ.).

16. Vaipan V.A., Egorova M.A. (eds.). Problems of harmonization of economic relations and law in the digital economy. Moscow, Yustitsinform Publ., 2020. 280 p. (In Russ.).

17. Efimova O.V., Baldina S.A. Digital rights as a new object of civil rights. Uchenye trudy Rossiiskoi akademii advokatury i notariata, 2019, no. 3, pp. 45-48. (In Russ.).

18. Casey M.J., Vigna P. The age of cryptocurrencies. How Bitcoin and blockchain are challenging the global economic order. Moscow, Mann, Ivanov and Ferber Publ., 2017. 432 p. (In Russ.).

19. Hayek F. Private money. Tver, Institut nacional'noi modeli ekonomiki Publ., 1996. 229 p. (In Russ.).

20. Tolkachev A.Yu., Zhuzhzhalov M.B. Cryptocurrency as property - analysis of the current legal status. Vestnik ekonomicheskogo pravosudiya Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 2018, no. 9, pp. 91-135. (In Russ.).

21. Blazheev V.V., Egorova M.A. (eds.). Digital law: textbook. Moscow, Prospekt Publ., 2020. 640 p. (In Russ.).

22. Guznov A.G., Rozhdestvenskaya T.E. Public Law Regulation of the Financial Market in the Russian Federation. Moscow, Yurait Publ., 2017. 438 p. (In Russ.).

23. Guznov A.A. Financial and legal regulation of the financial market in the Russian Federation. Doct. Diss. Moscow, 2016. 494 p. (In Russ.).

24. Ludlow P. Cryptoanarchy, cyber states and pirate utopias. Moscow, Ul'traKul'tura Publ., 2005. 600 p. (In Russ.).

25. Lisitsin A. New legislation on digital financial assets: prospects for the banking business. Raschety i operatsionnaya rabota v kommercheskom banke, 2020, no. 4, pp. 4-17. (In Russ.).

26. Morhat P.M. Cryptocurrency in the bankruptcy estate of a bankrupt debtor. Zakon i pravo, 2019, №. 4, pp. 19-22. (In Russ.).

27. Sazhenov A.V. Cryptocurrency: dematerialization of the category of things in civil law. Zakon, 2018, no. 9, pp. 106-121. (In Russ.).

28. Efremova E. Operations with cryptocurrencies: prospects for taxation today and tomorrow. Nalogooblozhenie, uchet i otchetnost' v kommercheskom banke, 2018, no. 2, pp. 42-50. (In Russ.).

29. Pechegin D.A. Cryptorisks. Rossiiskii zhurnal pravovykh issledovanii = Russian Journal of Legal Studies, 2017, no. 3, pp.151-157. (In Russ.).

30. Bech M.L., Garrat R. Central bank cryptocurrencies. BIS Quarterly review, 2017, September. URL: https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt1709f.pdf.