REGARDING THE NEED TO APPLY THE THEORY OF LEGAL FICTION WHEN DEFINING THE CONCEPT OF “CRYPTOCURRENCY”

Abstract

The article is devoted to the legal analysis of the concept of cryptocurrency in the context of the need to harmonize its legal and economic characteristics. The economic content of cryptocurrencies has been studied, taking into account the fact that they were created specifically to perform economic functions — decentralized storage and circulation of value. It is substantiated that the presence of decentralized principles of cryptocurrency emission through mining and the existence of blockchain technologies and cryptographic algorithms do not allow the state to establish legal features of cryptocurrency through traditional legal forms of defining a certain subject as a means of payment. It was concluded that cryptocurrency couldn’t be defined as an intangible good, regulated by the Civil Code of Ukraine, because of the economic purpose of cryptocurrency as a means of circulation and preservation of value. It is proposed a legal approach to cryptocurrency, which would allow incorporating cryptocurrency into the national legal system and circulation operations, prevent shadow operations and the legalization of “dirty funds”. In this context, it is proposed to approach cryptocurrency as ejusdem generis, bringing the understanding of cryptocurrencies closer to other things. The possibility of recognizing of cryptocurrency as the right of claim characteristic of non-cash money is denied. Unlike electronic money, cryptocurrencies do not mediate the payment obligation and the right to demand. It was concluded that cryptocurrency should be defined, taking into account the theory of legal fiction, an interchangeable type of virtual asset in the form of an encrypted electronic record, the emission and accounting of which is performed decentralized on the basis of distributed ledger technology and cryptographic algorithms, which is an object of property rights and can perform circulation and accumulation functions.