Over the last decade, virtual currencies have captured an increasingly significant role in financial markets, introducing a new class of assets and revolutionizing market notions of issuing, trading, storing and transferring value. Hence, the author considers the legal consequences of financial growth and success of digital assets in the contemporary economy. The wave of general transition on the Internet in 2020 also affected cryptocurrencies, i.e. digital assets, which existed somewhere between two extreme positions: legal regulation and grey area. The unresolved legal status of cryptocurrencies has created vast problems for both legislators and investors. As digital assets and other blockchain applications mature, the global regulatory authorities work hard to keep pace and to adopt legal frameworks pertinent to regulating this new method of exchange. At the end of 2020, Serbia adopted the Law on Digital Assets, thus becoming one of the first countries that legally regulate the field of digital assets. The paper analyses specific features of theoretical comprehension and legal regulation of digital assets in the Republic of Serbia. Using the normative and comparative method, the author will explore the legal status of cryptocurrencies, issuance and trade of cryptocurrencies, emphasizing the similarities and differences with the issuance and trade of securities. Therefore, the main objectives of this article are the regulation of digital asset and the application of securities law to issuance and sale of digital assets. Accordingly, it is of substantial importance to develop a holistic and coherent understanding of digital assets and related market activities rooted in empirical evidence and deeper knowledge of the underlying mechanisms.
Keywords: digital assets, virtual currencies, token, securities law, legal regulation.