A digital asset that meets the criteria of an intangible asset. A digital asset is an asset created or resides on a distributed ledger (DL) based on blockchain (or similar) technology. It is secured through cryptography, and as such include, but is not limited to, all of the following: 1) cryptocurrencies (bitcoin and ether), 2) fiat currency tokens/ stablecoins that meet the definition of a financial asset (e.g. USDC), central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), non-fungible tokens (NFTs); and tokenized securities (e.g. a digital token representing a fractionalized portion in an underlying corporate bond).

However, the above-mentioned assets are not always crypto intangibles. For example, CBDCs are generally not crypto intangibles because CBDCs are broadly a digital, tokenized version of a country’s fiat currency (i.e. merely a digital representation of money, particularly in its cash form). Likewise, not all stablecoins are crypto intangibles; a stablecoin may, depending on its specific features, be a crypto intangible asset.

Crypto intangible assets are a subcategory of digital assets. Many of the digital assets most commonly existing and residing in the digital asset ecosystem (various kinds of cryptocurrencies and similar assets) combine the features of both digital assets and intangible assets (other than financial assets or goodwill) given their lack of physical substance. In classification (accounting classification), such assets are not in the category of cash or cash equivalents, financial assets or financial instruments, or inventory. For example, these digital assets do not have the characteristics of cash because they are not legal tender issued by a government, and they are not a cash equivalent because they have no maturity date at which they are readily convertible to a determined amount of cash. Crypto intangibles, such as cryptocurrencies, are treated as intangible movable property. For a natural person, crypto intangible is considered as falling within the movable estate of the owner.