Legal Status of Cryptocurrency

This research work is devoted to the analysis of the legal regime of cryptocurrencies in Russia as an intersectoral subject of regulation. The legal nature of cryptocurrencies as an object of civil, financial and criminal law is considered. The place of cryptocurrencies in the system of civil law objects was revealed. The correlation of cryptocurrencies with money, currencies, legal tender, non-cash money, digital ruble and monetary surrogates has been carried out. The provisions of the Law "On digital financial assets" were analyzed, and cryptocurrencies were considered as a subject of criminal encroachment and a means of committing crimes. It was concluded that the best option for qualifying cryptocurrencies as an object of civil rights is “other” property, since other categories have special norms that are not quite applicable. In addition, in recent years, a stable judicial practice has developed, which considers cryptocurrencies in this quality, and there are no significant problems with this approach. As a subject of financial law, cryptocurrencies can only be classified as money, as a universal object that mediates the exchange of economic benefits. As of today, cryptocurrencies cannot be considered as currencies and legal tender, moreover, the law on digital financial assets prohibits the use of cryptocurrencies to pay for goods, works and services, and also denies the relationship on the turnover of cryptocurrency in judicial protection in case of failure to comply with the requirements of tax legislation. As a subject of criminal law, cryptocurrencies should be considered as a subject of criminal encroachment and as a means of committing crimes. As a means of committing crimes, cryptocurrencies are classified as property b the provisions of the law on digital financial assets. However, it is necessary to expand the subject of theft accordingly, since now it is focused on things. Thus, cryptocurrencies so far can only be attributed to the subject of fraud.