The legal regulatory model of virtual currency circulation: A socio-legal study

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17981/juridcuc.16.1.2020.05

Keywords:

consumers, financial instruments, legal regulation, virtual currency, brokers

Abstract

The article examines a model of legal circulation of virtual currency. The issue of the legal nature of virtual currencies remains controversial. This generates a problem of choosing the most suitable and effective approach to regulation of virtual currencies circulation. The article analyzes approaches to determining the legal nature of cryptocurrencies and the experience of state regulation in Switzerland, Japan, the USA and China. Methods of legal analysis, synthesis, specific scientific methods, and social research survey have been employed in this article. As a result of the conducted socio-legal study, it has been found that there is no unified strategy of legal regulation of virtual currencies, which affects their perception by recipients. This conclusion is based on the comparative analysis of legal regulation of crypto­currencies circulation in such countries as Japan, the USA, and Switzerland. By contrast with these countries, China has significantly restricted usage of cryptocurrencies, actually having chosen the way of banning virtual currencies. The inconsistency of legal regulation can be observed not only between different countries, but also within one state, which is proved by the situation in the USA and Switzerland. At the present time, the system of government regulation of cryptocurrencies circulation is the most effective in Japan.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Nikolay Mikhailovich Artemov, Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL) (Russian Federation)

Doctor of Law, Professor of Department in Financial Law of Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL), Russian Federation. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2462-396

Lana Lvovna Arzumanova, Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL) (Russian Federation)

Doctor of Law, Associate Professor, Professor of Department in Financial Law of Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL), Russian Federation. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3788-4335

Alexander Alexandrovich Sitnik, Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL) (Russian Federation)

PhD in Law, Associate Professor of Department in Financial Law of Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL), Russian Federation. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6474-114

Yulia Leontyevna Smirnikova, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) (Russian Federation)

Doctor of Law, Associate Professor, Professor of Department in administrative and financial law of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Russian Federation. https://orcid.org:0000-0002-2099-4909

Sergey Zenin, Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL) (Russian Federation)

Professor, Department of constitutional and municipal law, Kutafin Moscow State Law University, Leading Researcher of the Department of theory of state and law, constitutional and administrative law of South-Ural state University (National Research University), Ph.D. of Juridical Sciences (Candidate of sciences), Russian Federation. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4520-757X

References

Abramowicz, M. B. (2015). Cryptocurrency-Based Law. [GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper 2015-9]. Washington, DC: GWU. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2573788

Dwyer, G. P. (2015). The economics of Bitcoin and similar private digital currencies. Journal of Financial Stability, 17, 81–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2434628

ElBahrawy, A., Alessandretti, L., Kandler, A., Pastor-Satorras, R. and Baronchelli, A. (2017). Evolutionary dynamics of the cryptocurrency market. Royal Society Open Science, 4(11), 170623. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2969708

Eyal, I. (2017). Blockchain Technology: Transforming Libertarian Cryptocurrency Dreams to Finance and Banking Realities. Computer, 50(9), 38–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MC.2017.3571042

Guadamuz, A. and Marsden, C. T. (2015). Blockchains and Bitcoin: Regulatory Responses to Cryptocurrencies. First Monday, 20(12). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v20i12.6198

Hayes, A. S. (2017). Cryptocurrency value formation: An empirical study leading to a cost of production model for valuing bitcoin. Telematics and Informatics, 34(7), 1308–1321. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2016.05.005

Herrera-Joancomartí, J. (2015). Research and Challenges on Bitcoin Anonymity. In: J. Garcia-Alfaro, J. Herrera-Joancomartí, E. Lupu, J. Posegga, A. Aldini, F. Martinelli and N. Suri (eds), Data Privacy Management, Autonomous Spontaneous Security, and Security Assurance. DPM 2014, QASA 2014, SETOP 2014, Wroclaw, Poland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17016-9_1

Kirillova, E. A., Pavlyuk, A. V., Zulfugarzade, T. and Mikhailova I. A. (2018). Bitcoin, lifecoin, namecoin: the legal nature of virtual currency. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics, 9(1), 119–126. https://doi.org/10.14505//jarle.v9.1(31).16

Liu, Q. and Li, K. (2018). Decentration Transaction Method Based on Blockchain Technology. Intelligent Transportation Big Data & Smart City, 2018 ICITBS, Xiamen, China. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICITBS.2018.00111

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). (June 24, 2009). Payment Services Act no. 54 [PS Act 54]. Retrieved from: https://www.e-gov.go.jp/sorry.html

Peck, M. E. (2017). Blockchains: How they work and why they’ll change the world. IEEE Spectrum, 54(10), 26–35. https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2017.8048836

Treleaven, R., Brown, G. and Yang, D. (2017). Blockchain Technology in Finance. Computer, 50(9), 14–17. https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.2017.3571047

Ujiie, J. (ed.). (2002). Japanese Financial Markets. Cambridge: Woodhead publishing.

Wright, A. and De Filippi, P. (2015). Decentralized Blockchain Technology and the Rise of Lex Cryptographia. SSRN. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2580664

Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. (22. Dezember 1999). Bundesverfassung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. [WZG].

Yli-Huumo, J., Ko, D., Choi, S., Park, S. and Smolander, K. (2016). Where Is Current Research on Blockchain Technology? A Systematic Review. PLoS ONE, 11(10), e0163477. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163477

Zheng, Z., Xie, S., Dai, H.-N., Chen, X. and Wang, H. (2018). Blockchain challenges and opportunities: a survey. International Journal of Web and Grid Services (IJWGS), 14(4), 352–375. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJWGS.2018.10016848

Downloads

Published

2020-02-28

How to Cite

Artemov, N. M., Arzumanova, L. L., Sitnik, A. A., Smirnikova, Y. L., & Zenin, S. (2020). The legal regulatory model of virtual currency circulation: A socio-legal study. JURIDICAS CUC, 16(1), 127–144. https://doi.org/10.17981/juridcuc.16.1.2020.05

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 1 (2020): Jurídicas CUC 2020

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2020 JURIDICAS CUC

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The authors are exclusively responsible for the published articles, which do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial committee. 

JURIDICAS CUC respects the moral rights of authors who have assigned the property rights on the published materials to the editorial committee. In turn, the authors declare that the work they submit has not been previously published.