The Cryptocurrency Legality and Environmental Challenges

Abstract

Cryptocurrency is financial innovation and has affected many countries and institutions worldwide at the economic and legislative levels. The purpose of this study to  investigate the nature, origin, characteristics and mechanism of action, then its condition in global markets, the position of countries towards it and other related matters. The research concluded with results, including: the economic inefficiency of most of the cryptocurrency - and the like - as a legal currency and a tool of exchange and financial intermediary as a result of the expected (current and future) instability; Because it is subject to market forces in an uncontrollable way, in addition to the lack and difficulty of providing a legal regulation that guarantees rights and obliges duties, and the presence of technical gaps in the currency, which reduces its efficiency and exposes it to the risks of piracy and loss of rights. Virtual currencies in light of their lack of legislative texts regulating them through the growth of the e-commerce sector and modern technologies, the emergence of various means of payment via the Internet, and the spread of virtual currencies and their widespread circulation between supporters and opponents, which necessitated Addressing the issue of virtual currencies with a comparative analytical study that sheds light on what virtual currencies are, how they originated, their legal nature, the challenges arising when trading them, the position of legislation on them, and a review of their most significant risks. The study concluded several actual results to reach the truth of these ambiguous currencies, the most important of which is that these currencies do not receive recognition from most countries of the world and are not traded under a legal and regulatory cover that can control the price of these currencies. They may collapse and lose their value, which will be presented its users to lose their assets.