Electronic money, cryptocurrencies and payment systems: some trends in the legal regulation in the context of digitalization of public finance

Abstract

The article is devoted to certain legal aspects of the impact of the FinTech-industry on public finance. The emergence of new various financial services and instruments requires their appropriate legal assessment and effective legal regulation. Despite numerous publications and scientific studies of various aspects of the manifestation and application of FinTech, The Theory of legal regulation of digital finance is at the initial stage of its formation and is fragmented.
 The paper reviews special literature, devoted to the problems of legal regulation of virtual assets and related payment services. It emphasizes the need to observe a balanced conservative nature of legal regulation of financial relations in the context of the introduction of digital financial technologies, taking into account the tasks of protecting both public interests and ones of individuals. Based on the analysis of the current legislation, trends towards breaking the state issue monopoly due to the introduction of electronic money in the economy are revealed.
 The conclusions and theoretical generalizations are presented, the main of which are: 1) cryptocurrencies as alternative units of account pose a threat to the dominance of public currencies, as they make competition between private financial agents and states and their associations possible; 2) the issue of legal assessment of cryptocurrencies has not yet been finally resolved, including their legal nature remains debatable; 3) in its essence, electronic money is a kind of "electronic bill", but does not meet the formal characteristics of such a security; 4) there is a tendency to weaken the imperativeness of legal regulation of the sphere of monetary circulation fundamental for public finances by ensuring local rule-making within individual payment systems