LEGAL STATUS AND THEORETICAL APPROACHES OF DIGITAL ASSETS
Keywords:
digital assets, cryptocurrencies, cryptoassets, digital rights, digital rights objects, tokens.Abstract
There are different opinions among lawyers about the legal nature of digital assets: some interpret them as objects of civil law, while others consider them as a means of confirming the right to a legal object. The purpose of this article is to substantiate that digital assets can perform both functions. Digital assets can be objects of absolute rights and relative rights. The doctrine of Anglo-Saxon law interprets the absolute right to cryptocurrencies and digital securities as property rights. The Romano-Germanic legal system, however, does not include such objects in the scope of property rights, since in this system “property” must always be tangible. Digital assets, on the other hand, are intangible. Therefore, they cannot be recognized as classical property. This article argues that digital assets are a new type of absolute right - an object of law similar to traditional property rights, but with one main difference: this difference is that the object does not necessarily have to be tangible. According to the theoretical conclusion of the article, this new right can be called an "absolute digital right."
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