The New Frontiers of Trust: Bitcoins and Cryptocurrencies

Abstract

The opportunity offered by digital innovation to create new categories of goods or, at least, to transform what was previously represented by objects into something virtual has inevitably raised the issue of the legal qualification of digital assets, particularly cryptocurrencies. This classification requires a careful delimitation of the phenomenon. First, because not all ‘digital representations of value’ perform the same function and, most importantly, because their legal nature should be harmonised with the need to guarantee exclusive and absolute use by their owner and therefore, with tools that protect the individual’s ownership rights. One fundamental effect of digital assets being qualified as property is that they can be the object of trust. Moreover, it is precisely in this context that, owing to changing economic and social demands, the need to rethink the traditional categories of civil law becomes even more acute.