The article analyzes the legal delineation between the digital ruble and the tokenized ruble in the context of the development of digital financial instruments in the Russian Federation.
The study is relevant due to the simultaneous establishment of the legal framework for the digital ruble as a form of national currency and expanding practice of tokenization of ruble-denominated obligations, in the absence of a legal definition of the tokenized ruble and clear criteria distinguishing it from other digital forms of the ruble. The article aims to examine the legal nature of the digital ruble and the tokenized ruble, to identify key issues in their regulatory framework, and to substantiate the author’s approach to their legal delineation. The study concludes that the tokenized ruble cannot be qualified as a form of the national currency and proposes criteria for distinguishing it from the digital ruble and digital financial assets.