Virtual asset market participants

Abstract

The relevance of the topic is due to the need to specify the circle of participants in the virtual asset market, since participants are an important element of legal relations in the virtual asset market. However, a clear circle of them has not yet been formed. With the development of the virtual asset market, new participants emerged, which explains the need to specify their circle at the current stage of market formation. The need for such specification is also due to the fact that the role and importance of the virtual asset market for the economy of Ukraine, including for its post-war recovery, require urgent certainty regarding the legal framework for the market functioning, which, in particular, should concern participants, which will allow to solve a problem of regulation of other legal aspects of the market functioning. The purpose of the article is to specify the circle of the virtual assets marker participants and to substantiate their place and role in this market by means of classification. Based on the provided study, author specifies the circle of virtual assets marker participants, which are proposed to be divided into the following functional groups: 1) the main participants – virtual assets service providers, which, depending on the activities carried out, may be business entities, the range of which is presented in Article 55 of the Commercial Code of Ukraine, business entities established under the laws of foreign states, as well as decentralized autonomous organizations functioning as virtual assets service providers; issuers (including miners); offerors; consumers; and individuals conducting transactions with virtual assets in their own interests; 2) participants with auxiliary functions that provide the necessary conditions for the functioning of the virtual asset market by providing services (banking, insurance, legal, consulting, etc.); 3) participants with special functions related to state regulation of the virtual asset market and self-regulatory organizations. The author suggests that the concept of “virtual asset market participant” should be properly enshrined in national legislation.