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Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine

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Hybrid digital financial assets in European Union law: typology, legal nature and classification problems

Ganna I. Voievodina

Received 12.05.2026, Revised 12.06.2026, Accepted 30.09.2026

Abstract

The relevance of the study is determined by the development of digital finance, which has led to the emergence of assets that simultaneously combine utility, payment, governance and investment features. Such assets are difficult to classify within established legal categories, since their digital form, name or positioning by the issuer does not always reflect their actual economic and legal substance. This problem becomes particularly relevant in European Union law after the adoption of Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets, since the most complex issues of legal qualification arise precisely at the boundary between the regimes of crypto-assets, financial instruments, electronic money and payment services. The purpose of the article is to determine the legal nature of hybrid digital financial assets in European Union law and to substantiate a functional approach to their classification. The methodological basis of the study consists of formal legal, systemic, comparative legal and functional methods, which made it possible to analyse the relationship between the special regime for crypto-assets and the regime for financial instruments, as well as the related regimes for electronic money and payment services. As a result of the study, it is proposed to define a hybrid digital financial asset as a digital representation of value or rights that combines features of several regulatory categories and requires a multi-criteria legal assessment. The article substantiates a typology of such assets, including utility-investment, payment-investment and governance-investment tokens, financialised non-fungible tokens, tokenised financial instruments and multi-functional ecosystem tokens. Particular attention is paid to electronic money tokens as an example of normative hybridity, which demonstrates the possibility of the simultaneous application of several related legal regimes. It is argued that the hybridity of a digital asset should not be regarded as an independent basis for avoiding specific financial regulatory requirements where, in substance, such an asset performs an investment, payment or other regulated financial function. The practical value of the study lies in the formulation of a functional classification test that takes into account the holder’s rights, the economic function of the asset, profit expectations, transferability, the link with an issuer or protocol, and the possible regulatory consequence. The application of such a test makes it possible to reduce the risks of regulatory arbitrage, misleading marketing, incorrect qualification of assets and fragmentation of supervisory practice.

Keywords:

crypto-assets; digital assets; financial instruments; functional approach; electronic money; MiCA; MiFID II

https://doi.org/10.31359/1993-0909.2026.33.3.68

Retrieved from Journal NALSU №3, 2026 year

Pages 68-91

References Suggested citation

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Suggested citation

Voievodina, G.I. (2026). Hybrid digital financial assets in European Union law: typology, legal nature and classification problems. Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, 33(3), 68-91. https://doi.org/10.31359/1993-0909.2026.33.3.68