The cryptocurrency has represented a revolutionary force in the financial market, with a wide variety of available digital assets that can serve different technological and financial needs. Cryptocurrencies vary considerably. It, therefore, goes without saying that this paper should focus on the wide array of cryptocurrencies, grouping them according to their underlying technology, use cases, and functionalities. It refers to the major classification, including Bitcoin, the first digital currency designed primarily as a unit of store and medium of exchange; altcoins, including alternative cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Ripple, that should introduce new features and functions such as smart contracts and fast processing of transactions; and tokens, which can be issued and managed on existing blockchain platforms and may range from utility in decentralized applications to representing assets. Such categories of analysis are intended to make it possible to distinguish between the roles and technological innovations connected with each type of cryptocurrency. This research adventure offers insight into how the digital currency landscape is emerging and will impact financial systems, investment strategies, and the regulatory approach. This research goes into a comprehensive review of current literature and case studies, engaged with all types of diverse functionalities and applications of cryptocurrencies, providing foundational understanding to stakeholders and policymakers entering this dynamic field. DOI - https://doi.org/10.65525/SVUP.9788199651548.2026.130-141
Bitcoin's governance trajectory at the custody interface is shaped by institutional dynamics that operate independently of any participant's preferences. Two coherent institutional logics organize the interface: sovereignty-first preserves exit optionality through self-custody and minimization of asset specificity; stability-first builds out a financialization stack connecting Bitcoin to legacy financial governance through custodial intermediation, regulatory recognition, derivative markets, and fiduciary precedent. Williamson's fundamental transformation operates at the site of custody concentration, with the initial spot Bitcoin ETF approvals as exemplar, locking institutional holders into bilateral dependencies the permissionless architecture was designed to prevent concentrated economic interests from generating. The result is a structural paradox: institutional holders combine fiduciary obligations preventing credible exit with positions in a governance architecture that supplies no formal voice mechanism, leaving the participants with the largest economic stake possessing the least governance agency. Three structural asymmetries-in constituency formation, ratchet effects, and the endogeneity of regulatory pressure on the self-custody arena-bias the institutional environment toward stability-first regions of the scenario space regardless of any participant's preferences. Two counterweights operate against the bias: the gateway dynamic, an endogenous individual-level migration toward self-custody, and structural unwinding, an exogenous shift through which degradation of the institutional environment transforms the Coasean cost-benefit calculus. A hard-fork producing a financially-compliant variant of Bitcoin exists as a third trajectory.
Nadezhda Olegovna Sergeeva, Anastasia Albertovna Khairullina, T Dunaeva
The article explores the transformation of financial technologies under the influence of blockchain, focusing on changing the transparency of investment transactions. Based on the analysis of theoretical approaches to trust and empirical studies of the practices of using distributed ledgers in asset management, crowdfunding and syndicated lending, three key mechanisms for increasing transparency have been identified: cryptographic verification, smart contract automation of execution and role-based access differentiation. It is proved that blockchain transforms the institution of trust from interpersonal and institutional to algorithmic, reducing transaction costs, but creating new challenges in the field of privacy and regulatory regulation. It is shown that the introduction of distributed registry technologies leads to the emergence of “hybrid transparency” – a balance between public verifiability and maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive data.
As institutional capital increasingly flows into digital asset markets, and as the intersection of decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional finance (TradFi) deepens structurally, a critical pricing gap has emerged: the absence of a rigorous Crypto XVA™ framework that addresses the unique risk characteristics of blockchain-based financial instruments. Prior scholarship has examined smart contracts as potential eliminators of counterparty risk (Morini & Sams 2015; Fries & Kohl-Landgraf 2018), but has not systematically constructed the affirmative case for a crypto-native valuation adjustment architecture. This paper addresses that gap. We make three principal contributions. First, we identify the novel risk factors unique to digital asset markets — smart contract vulnerability, oracle dependence, liquidity regime fragmentation, stablecoin reserve opacity, bridge transfer risk, and gas execution uncertainty — and argue each warrants a distinct valuation adjustment category. Second, we establish the critical analytical distinction between duration-bearing instruments (perpetual swaps, LP positions, DeFi lending) and instantaneous transactions (DEX spot swaps, bridge transfers), showing that the appropriate mathematical treatment differs fundamentally between these two classes and that conflating them produces analytically incoherent results. Third, we derive a generalized Crypto XVA integral that collapses appropriately in both regimes and demonstrate its application across five canonical DeFi instrument types with worked numerical examples.
1 Cryptocurrencies in Insolvency Proceedings Abstract The thesis explores how crypto-assets are situated within Czech insolvency law and examines how their technological properties interact with established institutions of bankruptcy proceedings. It starts from a practical observation: distributed-ledger-based assets appear in debtors' estates with growing frequency and in diverse roles-as means of exchange, as investment items, as collateral, or as parts of operational processes. This development raises new questions concerning legal characterisation, discovery and tracing, procedural securing, safe administration, and the choice of realisation methods for the benefit of creditors. The aim is to map these questions systematically, provide a clear vocabulary, and outline a working framework that enables decision-makers to act predictably while respecting efficiency, transparency, and equal treatment of creditors. The opening chapter recalls the foundational principles of Czech insolvency law and the roles of the main actors, with particular attention to the trustee's duties and the supervisory function of creditors' bodies. A concise technical primer then explains how crypto-assets function: the role of private keys and addresses, the nature of on-chain transactions, distinctions between custodial and...
The article examines the use of intellectual property as collateral and as a tool for attracting financing. It considers the legal and economic aspects of using intellectual property rights to secure loans and investments, as well as the associated investment risks. Russian and international experiences are analyzed. Special attention is given to the challenges of valuing intangible assets, high transaction complexity, and the prospects of digitalizing rights management using distributed ledgers. The article presents conclusions on the significance of intellectual property as a financial resource for innovative businesses and the development of high-tech industries.
The article examines the impact of legal protection of intellectual property on the investment attractiveness of the economy. It considers mechanisms for safeguarding intellectual property, including rights registration, patenting, and the use of digital technologies, as well as their role in reducing transaction costs and increasing investor confidence. The advantages of an effective intellectual property protection system for stimulating innovation, enhancing company capitalization, and developing high-tech industries are analyzed. Special attention is given to international aspects and the prospects for integrating distributed ledgers into economic processes.
Digital Transformation in Law
Security, Politics, and Digital Transformation
Digitalization and Economic Development in Agriculture
In March 2026, researchers at Google Quantum AI published resource estimates showing that the elliptic-curve cryptography used by Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many other major blockchains could be broken with far fewer quantum-computing resources than previously believed. The authors validated their estimates through a zero-knowledge proof while withholding the underlying circuits. Within two months, an independent researcher reproduced the circuits and a public challenge improved on them. The quantum threat to digital assets has moved from a remote theoretical concern to a concrete migration problem. At the same time, U.S. policymakers are integrating quantum-vulnerable blockchain infrastructure into the financial system through federally regulated stablecoins, chartered crypto institutions, exchange-traded products, and tokenized securities. This Article examines the collision between those policy trajectories. It argues that financial stability should govern the response and that the federal objective should be containment of transmission from a failing legacy network into regulated finance. Congress should create a quantum-resilience perimeter under which covered intermediaries, stablecoin issuers, investment products, and market infrastructures may, after a defined transition, operate only through networks and digitalasset arrangements certified as quantum-resilient. Qualification should require protection of every material cryptographic function and a credible plan to prevent mass unauthorized monetization of assets controlled by deprecated credentials. Protocol communities would retain authority to choose the technical method, including migration, quarantine, recovery, rate limits, issuer-led reissuance, or permanent unspendability. Nonqualified networks could continue through self-custody and peer-to-peer use, but they would remain outside regulated custody, collateral, derivatives, tokenized markets, and U.S.-regulated dollar channels. The proposal thus protects financial stability without directing consensus rules or prohibiting private ownership.
Digital assets have become a significant and indispensable part of the modern financial system and have brought innovations in the areas of payments, investments, and financial intermediation. However, their expansion brings numerous regulatory challenges, particularly with regard to preventing money laundering, user identification, the legal treatment of decentralized finance, and privacy protection. Approaches to the regulation of digital assets vary significantly among jurisdictions - while some countries introduce comprehensive legislation, others apply restrictive or fragmented policies. Serbia has positioned itself as one of the first countries in the region to adopt a specific Law on Digital Assets (2020), thereby establishing a regulatory framework for this market. This paper analyses the legal challenges of digital assets, exploring national and international regulatory approaches, including the European Union's MiCA Regulation. It also examines the need to strike a balance between fostering innovation and ensuring the stability of the financial system. The key finding is that continuous international cooperation and a flexible regulatory framework are necessary to enable the sustainable development of digital assets and the technologies that support them.
The bachelor’s thesis Institutional Arrangement of Cryptocurrencies primarily focuses on issues related to individual cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency exchanges, and their regulation. Its aim is to compare individual cryptocurrency exchanges and the regulation of trading in these currencies across different countries. The first chapter defines cryptocurrencies and discusses individual digital currencies and the technologies on which they operate. The second chapter deals with cryptocurrency trading, focusing on exchanges and their comparison. The third chapter addresses regulation, particularly its forms, as well as regulation at the level of individual states and their comparison.
The article is devoted to the study of the possibilities of applying blockchain technology in the system of intellectual property management in the context of the digital economy. The limitations of the traditional rights registration model are examined, and the potential of distributed ledgers for recording authorship, automating royalty payments, and increasing transparency in the circulation of rights is substantiated. The advantages and risks of implementing blockchain solutions are analyzed, as well as the prospects for developing hybrid models involving state registries.
This paper examines the various steps taken toward the tokenization of finance, made possible by distributed ledger technology (DLT), in the European and national contexts. In a context favourable to innovation and the use of enabling technologies, as outlined in the EU Strategy for Digital Finance, the European Commission is taking action on two complementary fronts that leverage the benefits of DLT: one focused on crypto-asset markets (MICA Regulation), the other relating to crypto-assets that qualify as financial instruments (Pilot Regime Regulation). The adoption of the sandbox model allows for the testing of DLT at both European and national level, where the adoption of the so-called FinTech Decree goes beyond the scope outlined by the EU Regulation to establish a legislative framework supporting the issuing and circulation of financial instruments in digital form via distributed ledger technologies. Despite the first instances of use and experiences in Italy, the current situation reveals a market still in the exploratory phase, hampered by the temporary nature typical of experimentation, but above all awaiting European action to establish a lasting framework for DLT.
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act) represents one of the most consequential U.S. legislative efforts to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets. As the bill advances through the legislative process, uncertainty surrounding its ultimate enactment remains significant. Rather than focusing on a binary prediction of passage or failure, this paper examines the market-structure implications of three plausible regulatory outcomes. Using a scenario-planning framework, the analysis explores how stablecoins, tokenized commercial bank deposits, decentralized finance (DeFi), and base-layer crypto commodities may evolve under alternative legislative and regulatory paths. The scenarios recognize that federal agencies, courts, financial institutions, and digital asset firms are already adapting their strategies in anticipation of divergent policy environments. Drawing on legislative records, regulatory filings, industry announcements, and legal scholarship, the paper identifies the principal opportunities, risks, and structural shifts associated with each scenario and assesses their implications for the future development of U.S. digital asset markets.
On April 1, 2025 Circle Internet Group, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "Circle," "the Company," or "issuer", filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) contemplating the "offering [of]… shares of Class A common stock." After the additional filing of prospectus amendments, the final offering prospectus is dated August 12, 2025. The offering of 34,000,000 shares was priced before market opening on June 4, 2025 at $31 per share. Circle's disclosure documents provide an excellent description of the many new blockchain-enabled Decentralized Finance [DeFi] technological and operational challenges facing participants and investors. These valuable disclosures benefit all who seek to understand these important developments impacting the future stability of global financial and currency markets. It is the actual disclosure language of Circle Internet Group, Inc. in their prospectus that is the focus of the article.
The article presents the results of research on the transformation of the classical theory of money under the influence of two key phenomena: digital currencies of central banks and decentralized cryptocurrencies. The evolution of money functions in the context of blockchain technologies and smart contracts is analyzed. The crisis of the traditional tenets of the quantitative theory of money and the actualization of F.’s ideas are considered. Hayek on private money. Based on the generalization of Russian scientific publications, the author’s periodization of the stages of the development of monetary theory in the digital age is proposed. Promising areas of monetary science such as programmable money, hybrid money circulation systems and decentralized emission mechanisms are formulated. The article presents empirical data on projects of crypto assets and digital currencies of central banks of different countries, a comparative analysis of the performance of money functions by five forms and a quantitative comparison of the multiplicative effects of the influence of decentralized finance (hereinafter - DeFi) with the traditional banking multiplier. An asymmetry in the performance of monetary functions by various digital forms has been revealed and it has been proved that the DeFi multiplier (1,5-2,0) is significantly lower than the banking one (8-10), but creates a shadow monetary system that weakly correlates with the monetary policy of central banks. A forecast model of a hybrid monetary system is proposed until 2035 with a distribution of shares between five forms of money.
Security, Politics, and Digital Transformation
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Economic, Social, and Public Health Issues in Russia and Globally
Canada has emerged as one of the more proactive jurisdictions in regulating crypto asset trading platforms (CTPs), operating a dual-layer framework that requires compliance with both federal antimoney laundering obligations under the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and provincial securities laws administered by bodies such as the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA). This paper conducts a literature review of the existing academic and regulatory scholarship on Canada's crypto registration requirements, examining the development of this framework from 2014 to 2025. Drawing on peerreviewed scholarship in Canadian securities law, international comparative regulation, and decentralized finance governance theory, it explores the effectiveness of the pre-registration undertaking (PRU) system introduced in 2022-2023, the enforcement actions taken against noncompliant platforms, and the outstanding gaps in investor protection, particularly concerning decentralized finance (DeFi) and value-referenced crypto assets (VRCAs). The paper argues that while Canada's approach represents a meaningful advancement in crypto compliance infrastructure, significant regulatory fragmentation across provinces and the rapid pace of technological innovation continue to challenge the framework's adequacy. Implications for retail investor protection and the integration of crypto into the mainstream financial system are discussed.
This article is devoted to the contribution of cryptocurrencies and blockchain to the transformation of the world economy. It describes the basic principles of blockchain functioning, the evolution of major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as their practical application in the areas of decentralized finance, cross-border payments, and supply chain management. The study also analyzes the advantages of these technologies and their current limitations.
Open access
Security, Politics, and Digital Transformation
Digitalization and Economic Development in Agriculture
The article is devoted to the philosophical, legal and comparative legal analysis of the transformation of the autonomy of the will in the context of algorithmization of private law. The subject of the study is the transformation of the autonomy of the will as a system-forming principle of private law in the context of algorithmization of contractual relations. The focus is on the relationship between automaticity of fulfillment of obligations (smart contracts) and dispositivity, as well as the functional change in the role of the subject of civil law in the digital environment. In this paper, attention is paid to the problem of the relationship between automaticity of fulfillment of obligations and dispositivity as a system-forming principle of contract law. The author proceeds from the historiographical understanding of the autonomy of the will, which has developed in European and Russian civil law, and considers the smart contract as a technological form of realization of the previously expressed will of the parties. Additionally, the limits of judicial control and the preservation of traditional principles of good faith and proportionality in algorithmic mandatory structures are analyzed. The research methodology is based on a combination of philosophical-legal and comparative-legal approaches. The author applies a formal dogmatic method to analyze the category of autonomy of will and the legal nature of a smart contract in Russian civil law. The scientific novelty of the article lies in substantiating the thesis that the algorithmization of private law, contrary to the doctrinally widespread ideas about the "death of the subject" and the replacement of the autonomy of the will by program code, leads not to the denial of the classical model of the contract, but to the functional transformation of the role of the subject. Based on a comprehensive comparative legal analysis (Russia, the countries of continental Europe, the USA, China), the predominance of an integration regulatory model has been revealed, in which a smart contract adapts to existing legal structures without revising the conceptual core of the law of obligations. A comparative legal analysis of the regulation of smart contracts in Russia, the countries of continental Europe, the USA and China demonstrates the predominance of an integration model in which digital technologies adapt to existing legal structures without revising the conceptual core of the contract. The conclusion is drawn that the subject of private law in the era of algorithms does not lose its autonomy, but becomes the architect of its own digital normativity, while maintaining the status of a bearer of will and legal responsibility.
1 Use of Smart Contracts in Copyright Law Abstract This Master's thesis examines smart contract technology and its potential application within specific institutes of Czech copyright law. The primary objective of the research is to evaluate whether blockchain-based smart contracts can be effectively utilised in the fields of collective rights management and related licensing agreements, while respecting the existing Czech legal framework. The study focuses on the potential for streamlining and accelerating economic transactions in a digital environment where copyright protection faces novel challenges, including the rise of generative artificial intelligence. The thesis is structured into four chapters, which sequentially analyse the technical nature of smart contracts, their practical application within collective management and licensing agreements, and finally, the legal and technical obstacles hindering more extensive practical implementation. The analysis demonstrates that the greatest potential for smart contracts lies in their integration into the processes of existing collective management organisations (CMOs), specifically OSA, particularly regarding rights under the voluntary collective management regime. This technology could significantly support independent musical artists by increasing the...
Smart contracts represent a specific synthesis of technology and law. They are agreements that are automatically executed and, owing to blockchain technology, relatively immutable. Due to their automation and immutability, smart contracts constitute a useful instrument of contemporary digital transactions. At the level of the European Union, smart contracts are comprehensively regulated by Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 on fair access to and use of data. In the first part of the paper, the author analyzes the concept of smart contracts, along with a brief explanation of blockchain technology as their underlying basis. In the second part, the author examines the legislation of the Member States of the European Union concerning smart contracts prior to the adoption of the aforementioned Regulation. The central part of the paper is devoted to an analysis of the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 relating to smart contracts, with particular emphasis on the essential requirements for smart contracts used in the performance of data sharing agreements, as well as on the procedure for assessing the compliance of smart contracts with those essential requirements. In the conclusion, the author elaborates the thesis that the new European Union legislation, including that relating to smart contracts, represents a qualitative leap compared to previous solutions, as it provides a detailed regulation of some of the most significant issues concerning the functioning of smart contracts and offers appropriate legal and technical guarantees for their successful application.
This study investigates the impact of cryptocurrency implied volatility and the CBOE VIX term structure on Bitcoin returns from March 2021 to May 2025. Using PCA and an orthogonalization framework, we identify the VIX term structure’s slope factor as a primary determinant of contemporaneous Bitcoin returns. While Bitcoin shows strong negative responses to VIX and crypto-implied volatility across all maturities, the VIX slope factor exhibits superior explanatory power. Notably, following the January 2024 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF approval, Bitcoin's sensitivity to its own implied volatility significantly attenuated, while its responsiveness to the VIX remained unchanged. A placebo test confirms this structural shift, suggesting that ETF institutionalization has altered Bitcoin’s internal risk dynamics without decoupling it from broader equity market volatility.