Digital financial assets: definition and classification

Introduction. The digitization of the economy began back in the 50s and 60s of the 20th century, but the term "digital assets" began to be actively used by financial market participants and scientists only after 2008, the impetus for which was the appearance of the so-called distributed ledger technology and the creation of the first cryptocurrency - bitcoin. However, today there is no comprehensive definition of the concept of "digital financial asset" that would fully reveal the essence of this term. Moreover, there is sometimes terminological uncertainty and confusion regarding the terms "cryptocurrency", "digital assets", "cryptoassets" and "virtual assets", which can lead to gaps in their regulation. Therefore, clarification of the definition and types of digital financial assets is relevant. The purpose of the article is to clarify the definition of digital financial assets by revealing the essence and characteristics of digital assets and financial assets, as well as justify the classification of certain types of digital assets as financial assets. The research method (methodology) is based on the systematic use of methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization and comparison, using a complex approach to studying the problem. The results. It was determined that such a new type of assets as digital financial assets arose at the stage of digitalization of the economy associated with the emergence of distributed ledger technology. It is clarified that according to IAS, digital financial assets can be represented by instruments such as cash, equity instruments or contractual rights. It was determined that the concept of "digital assets" is identical to the concept of "electronic assets" or "virtual assets" in the domestic legal framework. The classification of types of digital assets according to various criteria is generalized. It is substantiated that digital financial assets include such groups of digital assets, which are represented by payment tokens and tokens in securities, and utilitarian tokens are not financial assets.