Legal regime of NFT (non-fungible token) in Russia: How to work in the absence of special legislative regulation?

Abstract

The year 2021 was a turning point in the development of digital art. The widespread use of a non-fungible tokens (NFT) in the art industry has revolutionized the modern understanding of intellectual property rights (hereinafter — IPR) and the transfer of IPR.The role of agents as intermediaries between artists and art connoisseurs lost its importance, and so did the role of streaming services. Blockchain technology rewards creators for the sales of works on the secondary market and their subsequent use.Today everyone heard of NFT. Nevertheless, what we know about NFT now is just the tip of the iceberg. The potential market for NFT is enormous: it goes far beyond the visual arts. It will only be a few years before we realize all the possibilities that NFT brings to the table.The importance of an excellent legal framework for NFT is apparent. However, as it may seem, Russian legislation bypasses this aspect. Hence, is it possible to work with NFT in Russia? The answer to this question is significant for many who wish to be part of the international NFT market, such as museums, galleries, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs.The purpose of the work is to substantiate the possibility of working with NFT in Russia in the absence of special legal regulation.The authors, using systematic, deductive and comparative research methods, designate the place of NFT in the system of legislative regulation of digital assets. Using an empirical method, the authors demonstrate the feasibility of overcoming the legal hardships of NFT transactions in Russia on the examples of successful projects of tokenization of masterpieces of the State Hermitage Museum, works of other museums, private collections, and creations by young Russian artists.The result of the work is the justification of the feasibility of working with NFT in Russia in the absence of special legal regulation and the formation of such a model for structuring transactions with NFT, which fully complies with the requirements of Russian legislation.The materials of the research used domestic and foreign experience of tokenization of digital art objects, as well as domestic and foreign literature on legal problems of NFT.