Обзор подходов к регулированию цифровых активов в ОАЭ, Германии и России

Аннотация

This article proves that the regulation of electronic property – be it defined as) crypto/ digital/ virtual assets, cryptocurrency, etc. (or e.g. electronic money – which is out of the scope of this article) is subject to different regulatory drivers (and thus, approaches) and dispersed across many sources of law in Germany, Russia, and the UAE. To suggest and implement a reasonable approach to regulation, one shall start with understanding the electronic property–specific features and assessing the current economic environment in a State, rather than applying usual regulatory ap- proaches. Practice shows that a de-centralized (not to say chaotic) ad hoc regulation 196 Digital Technologies and Law (секция на английском языке) with sufficient powers granted to local authorities may in some societies be more fruit- ful than prohibitions, or a strict adherence to traditional regulatory approaches. Keywords: crypto assets, digital assets, virtual assets, cryptocurrency ОБЗОР ПОДХОДОВ К РЕГУЛИРОВАНИЮ ЦИФРОВЫХ АКТИВОВ В ОАЭ, ГЕРМАНИИ И РОССИИ Аннотация. Эта статья доказывает, что регулирование электронной соб- ственности – будь то определение ее как крипто/цифровых/виртуальных активов, криптовалюты и так далее (или, например, электронных денег, что выходит за рамки данной статьи) зависит от различных регуляторных факторов (и таким об- разом, подходов) и разбросано по многим источникам права Германии, России и ОАЭ. Чтобы предложить и реализовать разумный подход к регулированию, необ- ходимо начать с понимания особенностей электронной собственности и оценки текущей экономической ситуации в государстве, а не с применения обычных подходов регулирования. Практика показывает, что децентрализованное (если не сказать хаотичное) специальное регулирование с достаточными полномочиями, предоставленными местным органам власти, может в некоторых обществах быть более плодотворным, чем запреты или строгое соблюдение традиционных под- ходов к регулированию. Ключевые слова: криптоактивы, цифровые активы, виртуальные активы, криптовалюта. The major topics in the crypto field have recently been that cryptocurrencies can be stolen, fraud is perpetrated on custodians of digital assets, the nature of the cli- ent – custodian relation (fiduciary, services, agency, etc.) is often not transparent, and there are many insolvencies of all types of parties involved in the digital assets market [1]. Interestingly, the risk of a hostile takeover of data centres -- due to the low en- ergy cost and some isolated incidents of anomaly in law enforcement, should be taken into consideration when drafting a colocation services agreement in the CIS countries. A "functional" approach would be best workable to improve the digital assets regulations as it will be shown in the below discussion of German, Russian, and UAE regulatory regimes. Since digital assets and cryptocurrencies are new era creatures (and thus have totally new features -- such as smart-contracts, forks, or mining -- not known to the "old" law), the method of analogy of law (in our case, of securities law) or systematic method, by contrast, are not the best methods to heavily rely on in regu- lation of the digital assets. The German Law On Digital Securities [4, 5], effective as of 10 June 2021, be- came a further step in regulation. The dynamic of German regulation of bearer (Inhaberschuldverschreibung) versus registered (Namenschuldverschreibung) digital bonds can be used for bench- marking of German regulations effectiveness. So, under the German Law On Digital Securities, it became possible to issue bearer bonds in a digital asset form. BaFin states that "registered and non-negotiable securities (that is, requiring a specific assignment, 197 Digital Technologies and Law (секция на английском языке) not only mutual consent and transfer, to be transferred) as well as order bonds, are not covered by the eWpG" [6]. On 26 April 2023, nearly after two years once the German Law On Digital Securities had been passed, a German office of an international law firm witnessed only 25 issuances of bearer bonds under this German Law On Digital Securities (before 10 June 2021, as mentioned, it was not possible to issue bearer bonds in a digital form). On the other hand, registered digital bonds issuances re- mained more popular due to legal uncertainty of the new law and a more relaxed regu- latory regime (the absence of a requirement to employ a licensed digital securities reg- istrar for registered bonds’ issuance [7]). Conclusions of the German office of another international law firm – who compared German Law On Digital Securities’ features to the earlier existing regulatory landscape [8] -- are generally aligning with the above view of the other law firm: "Not every token that has the features of a bond (interest, repayment, etc.) is a digital bond in the meaning of the eWpG". So, the question remains open if the increased popularity of registered digital bonds – with registered securities by d