Approaches to the Regulation of Cryptocurrency Circulation by International Organizations

Cryptocurrencies have become a widely known financial instrument which has advantages in speed of transactions, anonymity, zero reporting and several other aspects in contrast to legal derivatives. However, such characteristics of digital money also provide risks of its abuse that leads to possibility of illegal activity when using cryptocurrencies. Hence, it is important to regulate their circulation. The purpose of this study is to define approaches to cryptocurrency regulation by different international organizations revealing the attitude of governments to digital money and its development prospects. For this purpose, we will conduct multi-method research using content and classification analysis. Content analysis will be used to investigate legislation concerning cryptocurrencies in the international organizations under study and to determine the level of its effectiveness in regulation of digital money usage. Classification method will be employed to combine countries of the organization which has no established crypto-regulation into clusters according to regulation approaches. That will be done to suggest a potential pace in which pace cryptocurrency legislation may be developing in the organization. Thereafter, the hypothesis of applicability of one or more of the studied approaches in development of Russian cryptocurrency legislation will be tested. The study will contribute in understanding of cryptocurrency regulation development process. Furthermore, the results of the study may be useful for authorities in creation of legislative framework for cryptocurrencies.