In 2025, the digital economy stopped being a “pilot project” and became a working reality.
Governments are rolling out their own digital financial assets under strict regulatory oversight, while the market responds with decentralized currencies that recognize no borders. If this once looked like a clash of two worlds—authority and freedom—today these approaches are rapidly converging.
DFA and crypto are no longer fighting for a place in the sun. Instead, they are building a new model of trust—at the intersection of code, law, and people.
Introduction
On one side are governments creating digital assets inside a fully regulated environment. On the other is a market where millions of people use cryptocurrency to store and transfer value without intermediaries.
These systems operate by different rules: state-led digital finance aims for transparency and manageability, while the crypto economy aims for freedom and decentralization. The paradox is that both are solving the same problem—making money more convenient, faster, and smarter.
So the key question today is no longer “who will win,” but whether DFA and crypto can coexist—forming a single digital space where control and freedom finally find balance.
What Is DFA and Why Does the State Need It?
DFA (Digital Financial Assets) are digital rights to real-world value recorded in a distributed ledger—i.e., a blockchain. In Russia, their issuance and circulation are governed by Federal Law No. 259-FZ “On Digital Financial Assets,” with oversight provided by the Bank of Russia. Unlike cryptocurrencies, which live in open networks without a central authority, DFAs operate inside specialized information systems where everything is controlled: who issued the asset, who bought it, and where the data is stored.
The principle is simple: a company issues a token that represents real value—debt, equity, gold, or even a commodity. You can buy this token, transfer it, and earn income from it, but every operation goes through licensed platforms. Each deal is recorded on a blockchain, and no record can be forged.
Why does the state need this?
- Transparency: regulators can see operations, and money-laundering risks are minimized.
- Control: digital asset circulation stays inside the country and follows Russian law.
- Business development: issuing DFAs is often cheaper and faster than issuing traditional bonds or shares.
In practice, the market is already operating.
Sber, VTB, Alfa-Bank, and the private platform Atomyze issue DFAs backed by commercial debt and precious metals. For example, Norilsk Nickel has a token backed by palladium: the holder effectively receives rights to a specific amount of metal.
In China, the digital yuan (e-CNY) is being активно deployed—an analogue of fiat money, but in digital form. It is integrated into the state financial systеm and is already used in government procurement.
In Kazakhstan, the Astana Hub platform is developing, where DFAs are being tested for investments and B2B settlements.
For the state, this is not just another technology. It is a way to move finance onto digital rails while preserving control, legality, and trust in the systеm.
What Is Cryptocurrency and Why Does the Market Need It?
If DFA is an instrument of authority, cryptocurrency is an instrument of freedom. Crypto emerged as a response to bank control and limited access to money. After the 2008 crisis, Bitcoin became a symbol of the idea that “money should belong to users, not governments.”
Cryptocurrencies are built on blockchain—an open database where every transaction is recorded forever and verified by thousands of network participants. Crypto has no issuer, no headquarters, and no boss. There is only code that keeps the systеm fair.
Why does the market need it?
- Speed: cross-border transfers take minutes, not days.
- Independence: crypto does not depend on sanctions, currency zones, or banking restrictions.
- New business models: DeFi platforms, project tokenization, crowdfunding—these became possible thanks to crypto.
Global practice shows that crypto is gradually becoming part of the economy, even if not always officially.
El Salvador was the first to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender. The country now issues Bitcoin bonds and attracts investors into its crypto cluster.
The UAE built a crypto-fintech infrastructure: exchanges, wallets, and funds are licensed there, and stablecoin settlements are considered normal practice.
The US and the EU chose the path of regulation: crypto is not banned, but all participants must comply with tax and compliance rules. Europe’s MiCA regulation became the foundation of a legal digital-asset market.
Crypto has proven that digital money can exist without the state. But that is exactly what makes it both attractive and vulnerable—which we will discuss next.
Legal Framework: The Core Difference
DFA and cryptocurrency differ not so much in technology as in legal philosophy. DFAs are children of law. Crypto is a child of code.
DFAs live inside the legal systеm. They are a digital form of traditional instruments—debt, shares, gold, or ownership stakes. They are issued under 259-FZ, supervised by the central bank, and fully integrated into the national financial systеm. Every action has legal force, and the issuer’s responsibility is defined by law.
Cryptocurrency exists outside that systеm. It has no registrar, no supervisor, and no nationality. It exists not because a law recognizes it, but because people trust the algorithm and network participants. If the state protects DFAs, crypto is protected by its users.
This leads to the key difference: DFAs provide legal certainty, while crypto provides technical freedom.
The state creates DFAs to legalize digital assets in a controlled environment—tracking money flows, protecting investors, and regulating capital movement. The market created crypto to remove intermediaries and operate without permission.
As a result, two types of trust emerge:
- trust in institutions (DFA),
- trust in technology (crypto).
Both forms work, but they serve different needs: DFAs offer stability and control, while crypto offers independence and flexibility.
Economic Logic: Two Sides of One Digital systеm
The 21st-century economy is built on the digital circulation of value. Both DFAs and cryptocurrencies are tools of this transition—just approaching it from opposite ends of the spectrum.
Through DFAs, the state solves strategic tasks:
- making capital markets transparent and focused on the domestic perimeter,
- creating an alternative to dollar-based infrastructure,
- maintaining control over monetary circulation.
For governments, this is more than innovation—it is a new form of monetary management: the ability to see where capital moves and how to direct it.
Through crypto, the market solves the opposite tasks:
- seeking speed, cross-border reach, and (often) anonymity,
- removing barriers and intermediaries,
- building an economy where value circulates directly between people and organizations.
The paradox is that both systems need each other. Without state infrastructure, crypto remains niche and vulnerable. Without decentralized technologies, DFAs lose flexibility and innovative power.
The world is gradually moving toward hybrid models where two layers coexist:
- national digital platforms (CBDCs, DFAs) for regulation,
- open networks (blockchains, stablecoins) for speed and global reach.
These are not two separate economies, but a single ecosystem where control and decentralization are learning to work together.
Outlook for 2025–2026
2025 became the turning point when digital assets stopped being an “experiment.” Russia and the rest of the world moved toward a post-institutional financial infrastructure—where money, securities, and rights exist in digital form.
In Russia, DFAs are no longer rare. Banks and corporations issue tokens backed by debt, gold, commodities, and FX-linked contracts. In 2026, the market is expected to grow multiple times—from tens to hundreds of billions of rubles.
The next step is cross-border settlements. Russia proposes using DFAs in international trade, especially within BRICS, where a shared digital payments platform is being discussed.
The global trend is regulated decentralization. Crypto is gradually leaving the gray zone: the US and the EU are creating rules that allow exchanges and token issuers to operate legally. Stablecoins are turning into a bridge between banking and crypto, and asset tokenization is becoming the new investment standard.
The conclusion is straightforward.
The financial systеm of the future will be neither fully centralized nor fully free. It will be polyarchic: state digital currencies, market tokens, and private cryptocurrencies will form an interconnected network.
Not “state versus market,” but a new symbiosis—where control does not choke innovation, and technology makes control smarter.