Digitalization of public relations allows right holders to achieve maximum protection of their rights and legitimate interests in the network. At the same time, platforms are being actively developed to meet the right holders and potential users who wish to use the results of intellectual property. In modern conditions, the development of technology blockchain network can provide not only the fixation of the protected object, but also the transfer of the exclusive right to it under the contract. The so-called smart contracts allow to carry out calculations and control the use of intellectual property under license agreements. At the same time, the gaps in legislation related, in particular, to the written form of contracts in the field of intellectual property have been identified.
Альона Ільдусівна Гнатовська, А. І. Гнатовська, Алена Ильдусовна Гнатовская, Alona I. Hnatovska · 16 authors
The article deals with the problems of determining the place of the cryptocurrency in the system of financial instruments and the study of its legal status in Ukraine and in the world. The problems of influence of cryptocurrencies on the economy of Ukraine and other countries across the world, potential threats posed by the cryptocurrency system for users of such systems and ways of legal regulation of cryptocurrency transactions are considered. The terminology that is widely used in the cryptocurrency field is analyzed, the main types of cryptocurrencies and the technologies on which they function are considered. Their characteristic features, positive and innovative concepts, which were introduced with their appearance, are identified. The legal status of cryptocurrencies and their prevalence has been investigated. The modern concepts of regulation of the cryptocurrency market in Ukraine and in the world are characterized. In the course of researching the subject of the article, the authors conclude that it is necessary to establish state control over the regulation of the legal status of cryptocurrency and prevent its possible negative impact on the country's economy. It was also concluded that a draft law would be considered that would address the issue of regulation and control of cryptocurrency transactions.
Рустем Магизов, С. В. Кузнецов, Kasatova Anastasia, Gilmanov Muhamat · 6 authors
The society is constantly looking for the fastest and most convenient way to make transfers and payments that are necessary for the development of economic relations. Currently a variety of forms of remittances is used. Most of them initially had a paper form, then with the development of technology they acquired an electronic form. The introduction of new financial technologies contributes to the transition to the digital form of their implementation. One of such financial technologies is the blockchain technology, which operates on the basis of protocols (rules) of accounting for operations with "cryptocurrency". The name "cryptocurrency" or "cryptographic currency" comes from the encryption technology "cryptography", so this name can be considered as a technological one. For the development of approaches to legal regulation, the priority, according to the author, is to determine the essence of the definition of “cryptocurrency”, i.e. establishing its scope and content, indicating the distinctive features.
О. О. Панова, Yuliia Leheza, A. V. Ivanytsia, Volodymyr Marchenko · 13 authors
The article considers the complex issue of the existence of national cryptocurrency markets and their legal regulation and ethics of use. The article provides an analytical review of leading models of legal regulation of cryptocurrency circulation in different countries of the world. The study was carried out in the methodological field: the development of the national cryptocurrency market, the legal interpretation of the cryptocurrency, the legal basis of circulation, ethics and the cryptocurrency exchange platforms, the directions of development of the national model of legal regulation and support.
While ‘classical’ human identity has kept philosophers busy since millennia, ‘Digital Identity’ seems primarily machine related. Telephone numbers, E-Mail inboxes, or Internet Protocol (IP)-addresses are irrelevant to define us as human beings at first glance. However, with the omnipresence of digital space the digital aspects of identity gain importance. In this submission, we aim to put recent developments in context and provide a categorization to frame the landscape as developments proceed rapidly. First, we present selected philosophical perspectives on identity. Secondly, we explore how the legal landscape is approaching identity from a traditional dogmatic perspective both in national and international law. After blending the insights from those sections together in a third step, we will go on to describe and discuss current developments that are driven by the emergence of new tools such as ‘Distributed Ledger Technology’ and ‘Zero Knowledge Proof’. One of our main findings is that the management of digital identity is transforming from a purpose driven necessity towards a self-standing activity that becomes a resource for many digital applications. In other words, whereas traditionally identity is addressed in a predominantly sectoral fashion whenever necessary, new technologies transform digital identity management into a basic infrastructural service, sometimes even a commodity. This coincides with a trend to take the ‘control’ over identity away from governmental institutions and corporate actors to ‘self-sovereign individuals’, who have now the opportunity to manage their digital self autonomously. To make our conceptual statements more relevant, we present several already existing use cases in the public and private sector. Subsequently, we discuss potential risks that should be mitigated in order to create a desirable relationship between the individual, public institutions, and the private sector in a world where self-sovereign identity management has become the norm. We will illustrate these issues along the discussion around privacy, as well as the development of backup mechanisms for digital identities. Despite the undeniable potential for the management of identity, we suggest that particularly at this point in time there is a clear need to make detailed (non-technological) governance decisions impacting the general design and implementation of self-sovereign identity systems.
The authors analyse the current classification of cryptocurrencies from the Danish and Swedish domestic income tax perspectives. Cryptocurrencies are analysed as they are typically applied in practice, where a categorization is made between coins, utility tokens, security tokens and asset tokens. In particular, it is concluded that despite the economic differences of different cryptocurrencies, they generally fall outside the scope of Danish and Swedish lex specialis regulation on taxation of capital gains and losses from the sale of certain assets, for example, shares and claims in currency. In both countries, there appears to be a presumption that most cryptocurrencies should be taxed as assets held for investment and speculative purposes. It is argued that such an approach is problematic not only in relation to the principle of neutrality, but also because it creates a barrier to realizing the economic potential of cryptocurrencies. The authors conclude that (1) the classification of cryptocurrencies poses challenges and uncertainty for tax purposes due to the lack of a regulatory framework, the absence of common definitions and the diverse technical structure of tokens and coins and (2) the classification for Danish and Swedish tax law purposes should be based on a case-by-case assessment of the specific cryptocurrency.
Abstract:at the beginning of 2018, considerable attention of lawyers attracted the case of a citizen’s bankruptcy with the decision to include cryptocurrency in the bankruptcy estate. This case exposed a number of problems associated with legal uncertainty regarding new technology products. What is cryptocurrency? To what objects of civil rights should it be attributed? What is the foreign practice and has the global tendency of regulating such relations formed? It is these issues that have become key to this article and determine its structure. The history of the issue, which has been going on for more than twenty years, is examined, foreign approaches of the legislator and law enforcer to regulate these relations are examined, the question of the economic nature of cryptocurrency is touched upon and, most importantly, questions are raised that law enforcers and legislators have yet to find answers.
In different countries, the approach to the legal status of cryptocurrencies is significantly different - some countries (USA, EU, Canada, Israel, Singapore, Japan, etc.) have recognized the expediency of using them and are working to create a legal framework that enhances the legal status of virtual currencies ( as electronic money, as exchange funds, as a specific type of currency, etc.), and other countries (China, the Russian Federation)-reject cryptocurrencies and prohibit their circulation. China banned the circulation of cryptocurrency within its own territory after the government almost lost control over the circulation of funds in the country due to their significant spread. In the Russian Federation, cryptocurrency circulation was prohibited due to the conservatism of the financial system, which is not able to quickly respond to the introduction of innovative processes and ensure their proper regulation. Despite the ban, cryptocurrencies in individual countries and their circulation in the virtual space continue to grow. The legal prohibition on the use of cryptocurrencies does not stop the processes of their use, but only does not allow the states that resort to such a ban to take part in regulating the processes of using cryptocurrencies, since they are removed from the process of their circulation.
Development of digital technology opens up new opportunities for corporate governance. At the same time, modern law faces a difficult task – to find a balance between creating conditions for development of technologies including by means of non-interference, and providing the stakeholders in corporate governance with proper legal guarantees. This paper considers the impact of some of the most significant digital technologies on corporate governance, such as distributed ledger technology, smart contracts and artificial intelligence. There are certain legal trends and challenges arising from such innovations including the pursuance of sociability, peer-to-peer and decentralization of corporate governance which in many cases is associated with abolishing of bodies (of a part of bodies) for a corporation management, or transferring their powers (a part of powers) to the corporation members and/or to a computer program (artificial intelligence, algorithm, smart contract). Besides, the paper considers occurrences of new subject of corporate relations – crypto-assets (tokens) holders as well as the possibility for recognition of the legal personality of computer programs, in particular, decentralized autonomous organizations and artificial intelligence.
Blockchain, like the internet, or democracy, or money, is many overlapping things. It is a decentralized record of cryptocurrency transactions. It is a peer-to-peer network of computers. It is an immutable, add-on-only database. What gets confusing is the way in which these overlapping functions override one definition or explanation of blockchain, only to replace it with an altogether different one. The conceptual overlaps are like glass lenses dropped on top of one another, scratching each other’s surface and confusing each other’s focal dimensions. This guide takes apart the stack of these conceptual lenses and addresses them one by one through the reconstruction of the basic elements of blockchain technology. The first section of this report gives a short history of blockchain, then describes its main functionality, distinguishing between private and public blockchains. Next, the guide breaks down the components and inner workings of a block and the blockchain. The following section focuses on blockchain’s journalistic applications, specifically by differentiating between targeted solutions that use blockchain to store important metadata journalists and media companies use on a daily basis, and hybrid solutions that include targeted solutions but introduce cryptocurrency, therein changing the journalistic business model altogether. Finally, the report speculates on the proliferation of what are known as Proof-of-Stake blockchain models, the spread of “smart contracts,” and the potential of enterprise-level and government-deployed blockchains, all in relation to what these mean to newsrooms and the work of reporters.
The cryptocurrency market grew from a $1.5 billion market capitalization in early 2013 to over $795 billion in January 2018. Bitcoin, an exemplar cryptocurrency, gained value from $0.08 before 2010 to over $17,000 per bitcoin in December 2017. While cryptocurrencies have campaigned for revolutionizing financial transactions, the crypto-market is plagued by nefarious minds, fleecing investors in frauds and Ponzi schemes. This crypto-mania therefore presents numerous legal and regulatory challenges that demand prompt and efficient responses. Nevertheless, the decentralized, anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies magnifies these challenges and has constantly outpaced the law’s ability to respond. To understand the effects of different regulatory strategies, this Note compares regulatory landscapes on cryptocurrency between the U.S. and China. In a nutshell, while China explicitly banned any exchange or financing activities between fiat money and “coin substitution” in 2017, the U.S. has placed cryptocurrencies within its existing legal labyrinth. What explains the difference and what is its result? Rather than reducing the regulatory variances simply to differences in political ideologies, this Note attempts to explain the reasons behind the two countries’ drastically different regulatory approaches by understanding the regulators’ institutional capacities and objectives. This Note also identifies the interesting impacts of the two countries’ regulatory approach. Namely, China has attempted to substitute the crypto-market with state-led projects and even potential crypto-fiats, while the U.S. regulatory framework has maintained its consistency, but left some areas lawless while others potentially over- regulated. Part I of this Note introduces the background of cryptocurrency and its technological strengths and weaknesses. Part II surveys the existing regulatory landscapes of the U.S. and China. Part III explains the reasons why the two countries take drastically different approaches in regulating cryptocurrency. Part IV lists comparative strengths and weaknesses between the two regulatory frameworks. Part V concludes and cautiously makes policy recommendations.
Valeriy A. Tsvetkov, Anatoliy Shutkov, Mihail Nikolaevich Dudin, N. V. Lyasnikov
In this article, the authors review and analyze the features of functioning and development of a new financial market segment - the cryptocurrency market or electronic cash (specific digital assets). At present, the cryptocurrency segment (and digital financial assets at large) cannot be recognized as a formal institution, since there is no legal framework in this area, and informal interaction regarding the creation and circulation of cryptocurrencies is not an established social and financial-economic phenomenon. The analytic comparison using discount methods allows to a certain extent to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of e-cash issuance from the viewpoint of physical persons. The authors identify the main directions in institutionalizing the cryptocurrency segment of the financial sector of the national economy and substantiate the need for legal recognition of cryptocurrencies in the status of digital goods, which in turn involves the need to improve the Russian Federation legal framework.
The challenge for countries without adequate land management is not simply to build a land registry system but to create a system that is trustworthy, efficient, and free of corruption. According to Transparency International, 20 percent of land service users worldwide admitted that they have paid a bribe in order to register their property or verify land ownership information. 4 . This reduces the efficiency of service delivery and undermines public trust in the
Blockchain applications have largely been short-lived phenomena in the (classical) corporate governance arena over the past few years. However, at the same time, blockchain has also found its place in addressing agency problems in modern organizations, such as Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), offering valuable opportunities to eliminate classical inefficiencies. After a brief introduction to the agency problem and its associated costs in corporations, this chapter explores blockchain technology as a potential solution to this issue. Furthermore, the chapter delves into these DAOs, which, at least in theory, eliminate the agent and its accompanying problem while incorporating artificial intelligence. In the governance of more traditional corporations, blockchain should also be considered a useful tool for overcoming several agency problems and inefficiencies. However, regulatory burdens, uncertainties, as well as concerns related to accountability and other associated costs and interests, slow down the adoption of blockchain in the corporate law and governance environment.
Blockchain technologies (BC) are immutable distributed systems of digital ledgers (i.e., without central repository) and, as rule, without central authority. Currently, there is a lot of excitement around the use of BC technology, although the technology itself, on the one hand, is still not quite clear to many ones, and on the other (and this is the main thing) is not new. Superficial understanding of the BC as a phenomenon with «magical properties» leads to numerous predictions about the possibility of revolutionary transformations based on its application to entire sectors of the economy and, above all, in the credit and financial sphere. In this regard, this article presents a systematized analysis, the history of the BC emergence, leading from the international standards ISO 7498-2 of 1989 and ITU-T X.800 of 1991, as well as a brief informal definition of BC and considered are the basic principles and components of this technology, including cryptographic one-way functions (hashes), transactions, addresses and their retrieval, «digital wallets», ledgers, blocks, blockchain in operations. Representation of the BC as a sequence of blocks bounded base on known mechanisms of the data integrity with using asymmetric cryptography allows us to conclude that only its evolutionary development is possible, although at a rapid pace in real time. This is a characteristic feature of establishing modern stage of and all other IT types. In conclusion, attention is drawn to the need for additional research to assess the security and reliability of the BC in terms of assessing the prospects for its use in specific business applications and critical information infrastructure systems.
Introduction: currently, the whole world is experiencing tremendous changes in connection with the transition to the information society. This work is devoted to the challenges faced by contract law. The aim of this work is to study the theoretical and practical problems of the legal regulation of "smart" contracts. Methods: the methodological framework for the study is the dialectical method of cognition, which assumes the comprehensiveness, objectivity and interconnectedness of the studied phenomena; the general scientific methods of cognition (analysis, synthesis, hypothesis, analogy, etc.); the comparative law and functional methods. As a result of the study, the main problems arising in the legislative regulation of "smart" contracts were grouped. The technical ones include: the problem of describing the conditions in the artificial language, obtaining the data from the real world by the system, the reliability of the input data, the system errors, the speed of transaction processing, the inability to maintain the complete confidentiality of the operations. The legal problems include: the complexity of the contract verification by a lawyer, the lack of control of transactions by the state and tax authorities, the possibility of illegal transactions, the complexity of proving the fact of the contract, the definition of the applicable law, remedies. The legislation of some foreign countries, which is also under development, is analyzed. The analysis of the draft law "On Digital Financial Assets" shows that the document does not satisfy the requests for the legal regulation of the digital economy. In the definition, there is no indication that a "smart" contract is written in the artificial language, the turnover of the crypto currency is significantly limited. It is concluded that a "smart" contract is now rational to use as part of a paper contract for simple transactions with the measurable conditions. The draft law "On Digital Financial Assets" needs the significant improvement to simplify the turnover of digital assets and the development of the institution of "smart" contracts.
The paper focuses on the definition of the legal status of the cryptocurrency in the framework of the current Russian legislation. The subject of the research is the principal scientific and practical approaches to determining the object of civil rights and the object of acquisitive crimes in terms of their adaptability to cryptocurrencies. The purposes of the work were the search for a universal algorithm for resolving civil disputes related to the turnover of the crypto currency, and the qualification of the virtual currency theft (fraud). By using historical, comparative legal and dialectical methods as well as the content analysis method parallels between cryptocurrencies and individual objects of civil rights (a thing, property rights, other property) were drawn, and a number of options for qualifying the actions related to the non-repayable withdrawal of the cryptocurrency were proposed. Finally, the paper analyzes the draft laws prepared by the RF Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and presents the author’s vision of the prospects for legalizing the cryptocurrency as an object of civil rights.
T.V. Shatkovskaya, A. B. Shumilina, Gennady Nebratenko, Ju.I. Isakova · 5 authors
The article is dedicated to investigate the problem of influence of cutting edge digital technology on the virtual and real legal relations, related to the movement and the turnover of intellectual property.Using the method of analyzing modern definitions of blockchain, and relying on the political-economic theory of social redistribution of wealth, authors define the term blockchain and its principles as a technological paradigm.Authors conclude the fact that blockchain can be used to guarantee intellectual property rights and it should be accepted at the national level.As a mechanism of a trusted environment, blockchain allows to reduce transaction costs and increase the level of commercialization of intellectual property.
The key features of the blockchain databases, such as decentralization, distribution, security, and record of the history of all transactions, create significant prospects for their application in the field of cadastre and real estate registration activities, including creation of the global real estate cadastre infrastructure, which will be able to go beyond national legal systems and jurisdictions. The conceptual approach to registration of land plots as spatial objects using blockchain technology is proposed. The land plot should be considered as a combination of smart contracts between landowners, surveyors, appraisers, notaries and other persons. The subject of such contracts will be the description and establishment of spatial (plot boundaries, territorial zones, etc.) and other (property rights and encumbrances, monetary valuation, soil bonitet, etc.) characteristics of land plots. The classification of such smart contracts reliability is also presented.