This article is devoted to the general legal characteristics of smart contracts as a means of disposing of digital assets. Smart contracts are a key mechanism for transferring digital assets, but their legal regime remains controversial and unexplored. The main goal. To make a general civil law qualification of smart contracts as a special form of concluding transactions by order of the Central Bank and to justify their recognition as full-fledged legal means of achieving a legal result. The problems under consideration are the differentiation of the IC from related legal phenomena: computer programs, methods of securing, executing and concluding a transaction. The methods used are: formal-legal, comparativelegal, historical-legal, systematic. Conclusions. The IC is a special digital form of the transaction, which has the highest degree of reliability and accuracy of recording the will of the parties in the presence of objective guarantees of its execution.
The article discusses the controversial issues of the legal nature of self-executing transactions. It is proved that a smart contract is an algorithm that automates the execution of legally signifi cant and actual actions, subject to constant monitoring in accordance with the agreement of the parties and the regulatory requirements embedded in the program code. The use of digital tools for recording expressions of will, including software algorithms that create convincing evidence of the validity of an agreement, is being investigated. The authors conclude that a smart contract cannot be considered an independent form of contract, as a special algorithm, it helps automate the fulfillment of obligations under constant control and in strict accordance with the terms of the agreement embedded in the program code.
Huei-Wen Teng, Wolfgang Karl HΓ€rdle, Joerg Osterrieder, Daniel Traian Pele Β· 31 authors
Digital assets (DAs) such as cryptocurrencies, tokenized securities, stablecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and central bank digital currencies, are transforming financial markets with new business models, investment opportunities, and transaction efficiencies. Underpinned by blockchain, distributed ledger technology, and smart contracts, digital innovations are reshaping the financial ecosystem. However, their rapid growth introduces substantial risks, including fraud, market manipulation, cybersecurity threats, and regulatory uncertainty. This position paper offers an interdisciplinary and empirically grounded analysis of the DA landscape. We define and classify major asset types, trace their evolution from speculative instruments to functional tools, and assess current adoption trends. Additional technological developments (e.g., decentralized finance and NFT expansion) are examined for their role in accelerating this transformation. We also analyze the global regulatory landscape, highlighting jurisdictional differences, classification challenges, and emerging governance frameworks. To address key risks, we derive mitigation strategies via quantitative analysis and case-based evidence. The risks include balancing innovation with investor protection through adaptive regulatory design, promoting cross-border regulatory harmonization to prevent arbitrage and fragmentation, and supporting experimentation through regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs. By adopting a forward-looking, evidence-based, and collaborative regulatory approaches, stakeholders can harness the benefits of DAs while managing systemic risks and maintaining market integrity.
Oscar Revelo SΓ‘nchez, Alexander BarΓ³n Salazar, Manuel BolaΓ±os GonzΓ‘lez
This systematic review examines recent advances in blockchain-based electronic voting systems, motivated by the need for more transparent, secure, and verifiable electoral processes. The rapid growth of research between 2022 and 2025 highlights blockchain as a promising foundation for addressing long-standing challenges of integrity, anonymity, and trust in digital elections, particularly in academic contexts where pilot deployments are more feasible. The review followed PRISMA 2020 guidelines and applied the evidence-based methodology proposed by Kitchenham & Charters. Searches were conducted in six major databases, yielding 861 records; after removing duplicates and applying eligibility criteria, 338 studies were retained. Data were extracted using a structured template and synthesised qualitatively due to the conceptual and methodological heterogeneity of the evidence. The included studies reveal significant progress in blockchain architectures, smart contracts, and advanced cryptographic mechanismsβsuch as blind signatures, zero-knowledge proofs, and homomorphic encryption. Multiple authentication and verification strategies were identified; however, real-world validations remain limited and largely confined to small-scale academic pilots. Overall, blockchain-based voting systems demonstrate conceptual advantages over traditional and conventional electronic models, especially regarding transparency and auditability. Nevertheless, the field requires stronger empirical evaluation, greater scalability, and clearer regulatory alignment to support broader institutional adoption.
LAYER 0: RESTORING REAL-WORLD ONTOLOGY TO DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE The Restoration of Digital Legal Personality through Object-to-Subject Transformation This paper proposes restoring the ontological logic of the physical world within the digital realm. In physical reality, Layer 0 (corporeal presence) implicitly guarantees that an agent is a Subject. The digital world lost this layer, leading to a critical systemic error: the granting of legal capacity to "dead" Objects (code), which results in the mass voidness of transactions due to Vitiated Consent (Defect of Will). The author introduces the concept of Object-to-Subject Transformation. We assert that the only way to eliminate this legal voidness is to re-introduce the human will as a tangible force. The Core Mechanism: The solution is the Organization of the Stream. By actively directing a continuous flow of entropy tokens from physical reality to a digital entity, the human performs a volitional act. This active organization is the endowment of Will, which ontologically transforms the digital entity from an inert Object into a capable Subject. Key Contributions: Restoration of Reality: Layer 0 re-establishes the physical-to-digital link that was lost in standard TCP/IP architecture. Elimination of Voidness: By ensuring "No Will = No Action," the protocol prevents transactions that would be legally void ab initio. Discrete Subjectivity: Legal personality becomes a dynamic state that exists strictly during the moment of active human engagement (Stream Organization). Conclusion This work integrates legal theory and cryptography to create a post-quantum standard of trust, where the human remains the sole source of Subjectivity, preventing the legal and ontological collapse of the digital economy. Keywords: Layer 0, Object-to-Subject Transformation, Digital Legal Personality, Discrete Legal Personality, Sybil Resistance, Capacity to Act, AI Liability, Vitiated Consent, ZK-PoB, Proof of Personhood, Biological Entropy, Model Collapse, Web3 Security, Digital Identity, Intentional Entropy
Open access
2 source records
Legal and Policy Issues
Governance, Compliance, and Sustainability
Legal, Health, Environmental and COVID-19 Challenges
N K Vasilieva, J. D. Darmilova, Π.Π. ΠΠΠ ΠΠΠ’ΠΠ, A. N. Kalinichenko
This article examines the concept of cryptocurrency and its specific features. Based on the collection and analysis of information, the paper identifies the dual nature of cryptocurrency, which manifests itself both in the provision of new financial opportunities and in the expansion of corruption and fraudulent schemes. The article explores legal measures and approaches to combating cryptocurrency-related offenses, as well as current methods of detecting corruption involving cryptocurrencies.
Despite the apparent lack of legal regulation regarding the definition of the content and rules of civil circulation of cryptocurrencies, which is the basis for courts to refuse to consider civil cases involving cryptocurrency, binding relationships related to cryptocurrency certainly exist and are developing. The impossibility of judicial protection of this kind of obligations raises the question of their legal nature and on the basis of what factors it is possible to transform these obligations into civil obligations subject to judicial protection. The purpose of the article is to consider the features of cryptocurrency as an object of natural obligations, to identify facts that serve as grounds for refusing to recognize transactions with cryptocurrency and their judicial protection, to establish the possibility of converting transactions with cryptocurrency from natural obligations to civil ones. When conducting the research, the main methods were general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis. Special methods such as comparative law, historical law, and formal law were used as auxiliary methods. As a result of considering cryptocurrencies as natural obligations that are not subject to legal protection, the conclusion is drawn: transactions with cryptocurrencies have a property such as latency, which removes this type of transaction from the jurisdiction of the courts, giving them the property of naturalness. The facts that serve as grounds for the courts to refuse to protect transactions with cryptocurrency are the following: 1) the owners of cryptocurrencies are individuals or legal entities whose personal law is not Russian law; 2) there is no information about the subjects of the transaction and other interested parties; 3) there is no information about the objects of the transaction; 4) there is no information about the transaction itself.
Over the past decade, profound changes of various kinds have simultaneously occurred in the international environment and political systems, political regimes, and their functioning in a significant number of countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americasthat is, on all continents. All of these profound changes have had serious and, naturally, diverse multidirectional consequences for the perception of human rights, attitudes towards them, their normative protection, and practice of human rights. Moreover, they have coincided with the revolutionary restructuring of polities at the international, regional, and national levels under the influence of their technological rearmament, digitalization, robotization, and the routinization of the everyday use of artificial intelligence, distributed ledgers, and breakthrough biotechnologies. This presentation and its journal version examine the most debated, controversial. self-contained, multidirectional trends and countertrends in the development of human rights, their protection, defense, and the practice of observing and violating them.
Open access
Digital Transformation in Law
Legal and Policy Issues
Legal, Health, Environmental and COVID-19 Challenges
This study analyzes the transformation of the state apparatus from the model of representative democracy to the paradigm of the "Operational State". The model integrates meritocratic structures and distributed ledger technologies to eliminate systemic inefficiency (Schwab 2016). The text defines the Lex Automatica doctrine, formulates a mathematical model of the Social Contribution Index (SCI), and redefines institutional architecture through the Stability Triad. The work critically reflects on the risks of algorithmic governance and proposes safeguard mechanisms in the form of civic sortition.
Radovan VladisavljeviΔ, Aleksandra ZlatiΔ-TeΕ‘iΔ, Svetlana MarkoviΔ
The aim of the work is to present a model of tax control automation using smart contracts, this is a relatively new application of blockchain technologies. The use of new technologies can greatly improve the operations of modern organizations that have digitized their operations. New technologies not only provide a high degree of automation but also provide a high degree of transparency. This leads to faster business with an increase in the level of trust of all participants in the business venture.
The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, DAC8, and the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework together form an emerging normative ecosystem meant to bring crypto-asset activity within the reach of tax authorities. This study asks whether that ecosystem affords a coherent and complete framework for the international taxation of crypto-assets, or whether the heterogeneity of classifications between financial-market law and tax law perpetuates the conditions for an incomplete taxation that procedural transparency cannot, on its own, remedy. The study proceeds in two parts. Part I analyses the transparency framework. Its definitions are settled, but its reach is not: DAC8 and CARF render transactions visible only where a reporting intermediary exists, which places decentralised finance and self-custody outside the system altogether. Part II asks what becomes of the information once it has been reported. Comparing the substantive tax treatment of staking, mining, airdrops, non-fungible tokens, stablecoins and decentralised-finance income across the principal jurisdictions, it finds that visibility does not in itself produce taxation, because states do not qualify what they see in the same way. Beneath the divergence, the study identifies an uncoordinated drift toward functional treatment. It argues that hard substantive harmonisation is foreclosed in practice, globally for want of any authority empowered to impose it and within the European Union for want of the unanimity that direct taxation requires. What remains available is coordination rather than harmonisation: the neutralisation of cross-border mismatches on the model of the linking rules developed against hybrid mismatches, a technique that leaves each state in possession of its own classification. The central finding of the study is structural. The absence of an identifiable counterparty constrains transparency, substantive qualification, and any coordinated remedy alike, so that the framework is coherent across the intermediated crypto economy and structurally incomplete beyond it. The same limit that arises from the architecture of the technology arises, for reasons of its own, from the consent-based architecture of the international legal order, and together they mark the boundary within which the international taxation of crypto-assets can be made to work.
Traditional electoral systems exhibit critical vulnerabilities including vote manipulation, centralized points of failure, and compromised transparency that undermine democratic integrity. This research presents BLOCKELECT, a decentralised blockchain-based secure voting system designed to address these fundamental challenges. The system employs Ethereum smart contracts written in Solidity to enforce immutable voting rules, Web3.js for blockchain integration, and MetaMask wallet authentication for secure voter verification. The proposed architecture implements dual interfaces for voters and electoral commissions, with distributed consensus mechanisms ensuring real-time transaction validation. Smart contracts automatically enforce electoral rules while maintaining cryptographic immutability of all voting transactions. The decentralised design eliminates single points of failure by distributing vote storage and validation across multiple network nodes. System validation employed comprehensive testing including unit, integration, system, and security testing methodologies. Results demonstrate successful prevention of vote tampering, elimination of double voting, and provision of transparent, auditable election results. Implementation utilised Truffle framework, Ganache blockchain simulation, and Node.js back-end services following an Agile Prototype-based Iterative Development methodology. This research demonstrates the feasibility of blockchain technology in creating trustworthy electoral systems, indicating that blockchain-based voting represents a viable solution for enhancing democratic processes while addressing persistent challenges of electoral fraud and lack of public confidence in traditional voting mechanisms.Traditional electoral systems exhibit critical vulnerabilities including vote manipulation, centralized points of failure, and compromised transparency that undermine democratic integrity. This research presents BLOCKELECT, a decentralised blockchain-based secure voting system designed to address these fundamental challenges. The system employs Ethereum smart contracts written in Solidity to enforce immutable voting rules, Web3.js for blockchain integration, and MetaMask wallet authentication for secure voter verification. The proposed architecture implements dual interfaces for voters and electoral commissions, with distributed consensus mechanisms ensuring real-time transaction validation. Smart contracts automatically enforce electoral rules while maintaining cryptographic immutability of all voting transactions. The decentralised design eliminates single points of failure by distributing vote storage and validation across multiple network nodes. System validation employed comprehensive testing including unit, integration, system, and security testing methodologies. Results demonstrate successful prevention of vote tampering, elimination of double voting, and provision of transparent, auditable election results. Implementation utilised Truffle framework, Ganache blockchain simulation, and Node.js back-end services following an Agile Prototype-based Iterative Development methodology. This research demonstrates the feasibility of blockchain technology in creating trustworthy electoral systems, indicating that blockchain-based voting represents a viable solution for enhancing democratic processes while addressing persistent challenges of electoral fraud and lack of public confidence in traditional voting mechanisms.
This technical dossier presents the comprehensive software architecture for implementing Ternary Moral Logic (TML) as a deterministic enforcement layer on EVM-compatible blockchain platforms. Unlike traditional "Code is Law" models, TML introduces a "Logic is Constitution" paradigm, where ethical axioms (Prohibit -1, Pause 0, Permit +1) are embedded directly into the execution bytecode. This dataset contains three technical specifications: 01_TML_System_Architecture_and_Ecosystem.pdf: Defines the high-level ecosystem, including the "Lantern Signal" (proof of hesitation), the "Hybrid Shield" (cross-chain redundancy), and the "Goukassian Promise." 02_TML_Technical_Specification_and_FSM.pdf: Details the rigorous Finite State Machine (FSM) logic, Solidity interfaces (ITMLEnforcer), and the "Sacred Zero" epistemic hold mechanism. 03_TML_Security_Audit_and_Adversarial_Analysis.pdf: Provides a deep adversarial analysis and mathematical verification of the "No God Mode" principle, proving that no administrative key can override a constitutional integrity freeze. Status: Released for educational review and technical standardization.
This article is devoted to the issue of cryptocurrency seizure, using Bitcoin as an example. First, the article analyzes the legal nature of virtual currencies, cryptocurrencies, and Bitcoin, taking into account their technical aspects and their disposability. Particular attention is paid to the methods of storing cryptocurrency, which have a direct impact on the legal regulations that can be applied in the area of enforcement. Next, the possibilities of enforcing bitcoin on the basis of the applicable regulations, including the provisions on the enforcement of claims (Articles 895 to 908(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure) and other property rights (Articles 909 to 912 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Keywords: virtual currency, cryptoasset, cryptocurrency, blockchain, bitcoin, seizure, judicial enforcement, judicial enforcement proceedings, property law, virtual assets, digital assets
This study examines the philosophical-legal foundations of smart contracts through the lens of transforming concepts of autonomy and determinism. The semantic gap between the natural language of law and the formal language of programming is investigated. The ontological status of smart contracts as hybrid sociotechnical phenomena is analyzed. A conceptual vision of "executable law" is proposed for understanding new forms of algorithmic normativity in the digital era.
Aim . To reveal the ideological nature of digital decentralization as a systemic challenge to traditional state sovereignty and to identify risks for modern states amid technological transformation. Methodology . The core of the study comprises an analysis of key digital decentralization ideologies (crypto-anarchism, cyber-syndicalism, cypherpunk), their technological foundations, and implementation practices. A comparative analysis of foundational manifestos by crypto-anarchists and cypherpunks (T. May, E. Hughes) was conducted, and the evolution of decentralized movements was synthesized. Results . The analysis demonstrated that the synergy of technologies and extra-systemic ideologies creates parallel governance systems undermining the stateβs monopoly on regulating finance, information, law, and the exercise of power. Threats to modern states include: erosion of trust in institutions, use of decentralized digital resources for protest mobilization, sanctions evasion via cryptocurrencies, and increased citizen registrations in virtual jurisdictions operating beyond national law. Research implications . Proposals for state adaptation are formulated: shifting from technology bans to dialogue with IT communities and developing preventive measures. The author introduces an original interpretation of digital decentralization as βengineering autocracyβ, where algorithmic power replaces political-legal mechanisms. The study reframes issues of state sovereignty in the context of competition with decentralized anti-systems.
The relevance of this article lies in the existence of over 13,000 decentralized autonomous organizations worldwide, with a total capitalization exceeding 23 billion USD. Numerous projects exploit this form to circumvent regulatory frameworks. At both the international and Ukrainian levels, a coherent understanding of the phenomenon of decentralized autonomous organizations, their objectives, genesis, and legal nature remains absent. The purpose of this article is to explore the genesis and legal nature of decentralized autonomous organizations β from the inception of the technical idea to their transformation into sui generis legal entities. Applying comparative and formal legal methods to examine the development of the legal understanding of these organizations, and employing case study methodology to assess their implementation in practice, the article investigates the main stages of the formation of the modern concept of decentralized autonomous organizations, their differentiation from adjacent constructs β decentralized applications, autonomous agents, and decentralized organizations β by highlighting criteria of autonomy and decentralization, along with case studies from Bitcoin to The DAO. On the basis of a comparative legal analysis of regulatory models in the United States, Europe, and offshore jurisdictions, a conceptual mismatch is identified between classical corporate forms and the ontology of decentralized autonomous organizations. A two-component qualification test is proposed, alongside a typology dividing them into genuine, hybrid, and quasi forms. The findings of the study, together with the identification of practical challenges faced by such projects, substantiate the possibility of recognizing decentralized autonomous organizations as legal persons under Ukrainian law by means of the doctrinal construct of the βpersonalized purposeβ (ZweckvermΓΆgen) developed by A. von Brinz, potentially implemented in the form of a foundation. This approach permits the integration of algorithmic will with legal personality without undermining their decentralized nature. The article provides a foundation for further inquiries into specific legal characteristics of decentralized autonomous organizations, including the βsorites paradoxβ and the prospects for legislative regulation within the Ukrainian legal order based on the doctrine of personalized purpose.
<b>Abstract</b><br>Traditional electoral systems exhibit critical vulnerabilities including vote manipulation, centralized points of failure, and compromised transparency that undermine democratic integrity. This research presents BLOCKELECT, a decentralised blockchain-based secure voting system designed to address these fundamental challenges. The system employs Ethereum smart contracts written in Solidity to enforce immutable voting rules, Web3.js for blockchain integration, and MetaMask wallet authentication for secure voter verification. The proposed architecture implements dual interfaces for voters and electoral commissions, with distributed consensus mechanisms ensuring real-time transaction validation. Smart contracts automatically enforce electoral rules while maintaining cryptographic immutability of all voting transactions. The decentralised design eliminates single points of failure by distributing vote storage and validation across multiple network nodes. System validation employed comprehensive testing including unit, integration, system, and security testing methodologies. Results demonstrate successful prevention of vote tampering, elimination of double voting, and provision of transparent, auditable election results. Implementation utilised Truffle framework, Ganache blockchain simulation, and Node.js back-end services following an Agile Prototype-based Iterative Development methodology. This research demonstrates the feasibility of blockchain technology in creating trustworthy electoral systems, indicating that blockchain-based voting represents a viable solution for enhancing democratic processes while addressing persistent challenges of electoral fraud and lack of public confidence in traditional voting mechanisms.Traditional electoral systems exhibit critical vulnerabilities including vote manipulation, centralized points of failure, and compromised transparency that undermine democratic integrity. This research presents BLOCKELECT, a decentralised blockchain-based secure voting system designed to address these fundamental challenges. The system employs Ethereum smart contracts written in Solidity to enforce immutable voting rules, Web3.js for blockchain integration, and MetaMask wallet authentication for secure voter verification. The proposed architecture implements dual interfaces for voters and electoral commissions, with distributed consensus mechanisms ensuring real-time transaction validation. Smart contracts automatically enforce electoral rules while maintaining cryptographic immutability of all voting transactions. The decentralised design eliminates single points of failure by distributing vote storage and validation across multiple network nodes. System validation employed comprehensive testing including unit, integration, system, and security testing methodologies. Results demonstrate successful prevention of vote tampering, elimination of double voting, and provision of transparent, auditable election results. Implementation utilised Truffle framework, Ganache blockchain simulation, and Node.js back-end services following an Agile Prototype-based Iterative Development methodology. This research demonstrates the feasibility of blockchain technology in creating trustworthy electoral systems, indicating that blockchain-based voting represents a viable solution for enhancing democratic processes while addressing persistent challenges of electoral fraud and lack of public confidence in traditional voting mechanisms.
The legal status of mining in Russia remains one of the most controversial issues. The main difficulty is related to the lack of a clear approach to the legal regulation of this process, which is the creation of new units of cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, the regulatory legal acts adopted last year emphasize the relevance and importance of the analyzed topic. The article examines the problems of qualifying crimes related to obtaining cryptocurrency, including mining. The legal status of cryptocurrencies in Russian and international legislation is analyzed, identifying gaps in regulation and enforcement. Special attention is given to the qualification of illegal mining as a form of unlawful business, as well as crimes related to electricity theft, fraud, extortion, and money laundering. The study explores relevant court rulings and evidentiary issues in criminal cases involving digital assets. International experiences in cryptocurrency regulation are reviewed, and suggestions for improving Russian legislation are provided. Key directions for the development of criminal law policy concerning cryptocurrency-related crimes are highlighted.
The presented study examines the problems of regulating the cryptocurrency market in Russia and other countries, as well as measures to prevent attempts at tax evasion and illegal transactions with cryptocurrencies. Special attention is paid to the identification of possible tax evasion schemes in the implementation of these operations. Goal. To consider the main problems of regulating the cryptocurrency market, which sometimes make it impossible for regulators, including tax authorities, to control this market. And also to study the measures that have been taken by regulators from various countries around the world, including Russia, to combat tax evasion. Tasks. Consider the concept of "cryptocurrencies" in various jurisdictions, analyze the main difficulties for tax and other regulatory authorities to control transactions with cryptocurrencies; identify the main tax evasion schemes, as well as examine the measures taken by various countries in the fight against tax evasion. Methodology. The study used general scientific methods, in addition to which an analysis of the current legislative bases regulating the cryptocurrency market was conducted, as well as creating conditions for preventing attempts to evade taxes and commit illegal transactions with cryptocurrencies. This included a study of both national and international regulations, which made it possible to assess the legal framework and potential risks associated with the current regulations. This comprehensive approach to the analysis of legislation has helped to identify current issues and shortcomings in regulation, as well as to offer recommendations for improving the regulatory environment. Results. In the course of studying the approach to defining cryptocurrencies, as well as considering the main characteristics of cryptocurrencies, it was found that the concept of "cryptocurrency" requires a single definition to establish the legal status of this digital currency. There is a need to create conditions to prevent illegal transactions with cryptocurrencies, to operate effective investor protection mechanisms, to strengthen consumer protection, and to improve cooperation with international partners. Conclusions. The conducted research indicates the need to change the legislative framework for the cryptocurrency market, taking into account the existing positive experience of various countries. The study also revealed the need to strengthen international cooperation to exchange information on operations in the cryptocurrency market in order to prevent attempts at tax evasion.
Kostiantyn Orobets, V. I. Shkolnikov, Tetiana Batrachenko, Π’Π΅ΡΡΠ½Π° ΠΠ°ΡΠΈΠ»ΡΠ²Π½Π° ΠΠ°ΡΠ°Π½ΠΎΠ²ΡΡΠΊΠ° Β· 5 authors
Introduction: The legal regime of cryptocurrency in different countries of the world is heterogeneous. In some, it is not defined at all, which leads to legal conflicts, including when qualifying crimes committed with cryptocurrency use. The situation is further complicated because such crimes can occur in the territories of several states where cryptocurrency has a different legal regime. Traditional legislation and mechanisms for combating money laundering and terrorist financing are practically ineffective in the landscape of crimes involving the use of cryptocurrency.Objectives: The aim of the study is to systematise the main patterns of crimes related to the use of cryptocurrency, as well as analyse existing vectors of their legal assessment, appropriate design and application of effective methods of combating these crimes.Methods: Based on the methods of analysis and synthesis, qualitative data analysis, using content analysis as the primary research tool, it is shown that the main problem in preventing the use of cryptocurrency in predicate crimes lies in the technical difficulty of identifying a person or group of persons who carry out cryptocurrency transactions for illegal purposes. Such goals may be aimed at legalising funds, i.e., concealing their illegal origin, making payments in a hidden network, organising various fraudulent schemes, financing terrorism, and other crimes.Results: The article argues that given the technical specifics of cryptocurrency transactions and the technical capabilities of "masking" the origin of cryptocurrency funds, it is necessary to develop methods for studying trace formation and develop an algorithm for establishing and consolidating forensically significant information for this type of crime. The results indicate that the future of law enforcement in the fight against cryptocurrency-related crime will require a multifaceted approach. Agencies must adopt a proactive approach by foreseeing emerging criminal strategies. To protect the public from crimes using digital assets, law enforcement must be flexible, progressive, and technologically savvy as cryptocurrencies continue to develop. The development of provisions on cryptocurrency also determines the theoretical significance of the work as an object and means of committing crimes, a surrogate means of payment during the commission of certain crimes.Conclusions: The practical significance of the work lies in the possibility of using its results to solve problems arising in the law-making activities of state authorities and law enforcement activities, as well as in developing recommendations for improving criminal legislation in the field of cryptocurrency-related crimes.