The Institutional Framework for Regulating the Production and Circulation of Digital Goods in Ukraine

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to offer a scientific vision of the essence of digital goods and recommendations for its reflection in Ukrainian legal regulation based on the study of scientific publications of researchers of digital goods and existing normative acts regulating the processes of their production and circulation. The article brings forward arguments to support the opinion that «virtual assets», «digital assets» and «crypto assets» are not good names for goods operating on the basis of distributed ledger technology, since such a name is not scientifically based and does not reflect the essence of these objects. From the point of view of economic science, it is more expedient to use the name «crypto goods», which reflects both the commodity essence of these objects and their external technological form, formed on the basis of cryptography and a distributed ledger. According to their functional role, among crypto goods can be distinguished articles related to money, investment goods, personal consumption items, and means of production. It is determined that regulators chose such names, guided not by scientific, but political expediency, as they try to prevent competition on the part of monetary crypto goods for the sake of the monopoly of issuing public money by central banks. Simultaneously, the economic essence of crypto goods in general forces the relevant institutions to be appointed directly responsible for the regulation of certain crypto goods. For example, monetary crypto goods are regulated by central banks, and investment crypto goods are regulated by bodies that are usually engaged in the regulation of the securities market. The philosophy of regulation is aimed primarily at legally making all crypto goods either investment or consumer goods. Monetary crypto goods is only viewed as digital currencies of central banks. A promising direction of research in this area may be the analysis of the consequences of the spread of the production of crypto goods, especially in metaverses, for national economies and for business

Keywords

• digital goods
• crypto goods
• virtual assets
• digital assets
• crypto assets
• cryptocurrencies
• digitalization