Substantiation of the Term “Digital Asset”: Economic and Legal Aspects

Background and Aim of Study: The development of the digital economy has led to the emergence of new terms. The research work focuses on the introduction of the term “digital asset” into the scientific use. The scientific publications and research works on the interpretation of the term “digital asset” have been analyzed, and various fields of its use have been considered. It has been determined that today there is no clear definition and understanding of the term “digital asset”. The aim of the study: to substantiate the essence and content of the term “digital asset” on the basis of etymological analysis in the economic and legal aspects. Materials and Methods: To substantiate the essence and content of the term “digital asset” in the economic and legal aspects, the following complex of theoretical research methods has been used: deduction and induction, analysis and synthesis, comparison, generalization, systematization and interpretation of results. Results: The term “digital asset” in the economic and legal aspects has been clarified in the research work. Digital asset is an information resource derivative of the right to a value and circulating in the distributed ledger in the form of a unique identifier. The components of the clarified term have been considered in detail in the economic and legal aspects; the interconnection and interdependence between them have been revealed. Conclusions: The essence and content of the term “digital asset” have been analyzed on the basis of etymological analysis. The use of a complex of theoretical research methods allowed determining the essential semantic features of the phenomenon under consideration, which are characterized by the following four components: economic, legal, information, value. This allowed substantiating the essence and content of the term “digital asset” in the economic and legal aspects, identifying features of the use of this term, as well as clarifying the interconnection and interdependence between its components. Further research will focus on identifying the characteristics of this phenomenon, fields and levels of application, as well as methodological tools.