Legal analysis of the definition of digital financial technologies (cryptocurrencies) in the world, in the context of international organizations

Digital financial technologies (cryptocurrencies, crypto-assets, virtual assets, etc.) have a different nature of origin, which creates their heterogeneity and gives rise to the specifics of legal relations in which they are covered due to their peculiarities. The purpose of the study is to conduct a legal analysis of their definitions by the sources of their coverage: 1) international organizations; 2) Ukrainian legislation. As a result, the study provides a legal analysis of the concept of "virtual assets" as presented in Ukrainian legislation and the interpretation of the identical concepts of "crypto-assets" provided by the world's most famous international organizations: The European Central Bank (ECB), the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Basel Committee (BIS), the European Commission (EC), and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). On the basis of the study, through a sample of characteristic features in each of the studied definitions of digital financial technologies, a common gap has been identified, with due regard for which the author has formed his own definition of the concept, based on different points of view: financial, legal, technological, which, in the author's opinion, are complementary and allow to cover this concept most fully.

cryptocurrency, crypto assets, virtual assets, digital currency, Bitcoin, FinTech