Peer-to-peer legal paradigm as a possible direction of the legislative regulation transformation of the virtual decentralized space

Lomakin Andrey, Rudikova Sofya

Nowadays, socio-economic relations in society are rapidly transforming under the influence of its digital development. In turn, the development of online processes causes the emergence of new financial threats. Consequently, such situation should be accompanied by appropriate changes in the law. However, traditional law is clearly undergoing a crisis, being unable to adapt to the new online system quickly. In this article the authors propose a fundamentally new approach to understanding the modern law, which is called "peer-to-peer legal paradigm". The authors determine the basics of the new concept, reveal its main principles and explain the need for its application in modern realities. There are new interpretations of well-known terms such as a legal provision and a normative legal act in the peer-to-peer legal paradigm. Such interpretations emphasize the refusal from the traditional legal system through the use of the IT sphere modern terminology. The article also reveals the functioning processes of peer-to-peer networks, identifies and describes the characteristic features of a decentralized peer-to-peer system. The authors find out the idea of using Big Data technology and smart contracts in a new paradigm and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the new concept. The presented view of the transformation of the traditional legal system is the key decision to eliminating and minimizing the probability of financial threats (especially Internet fraud). Due to the transformation of law in the digital period, both economists and lawyers will be interested in this peer-to-peer legal paradigm.

Keywords:peer-to-peer networks, legal paradigm, digitalization, decentralized peer-to-peer systems, financial threats