Prospects for the implementation of digital financial assets at the regional level

Abstract

Introduction. The rapid development of distributed ledger technologies and smart contracts has led to the emergence of a fundamentally new class of financial instruments: digital financial assets (DFAs). The issue of their implementation is of particular importance at the regional level, as these assets open up new opportunities to overcome regional financial inequality through mechanisms such as financial inclusion, cross-border settlements, and investment attraction. The purpose is to identify the key determinants, barriers and institutional conditions for the implementation of digital financial assets at the subnational level, and to develop a differentiated approach to regional financial policy in Ukraine in the context of European integration and post-war recovery. Methods. The study employs systematic analysis and synthesis of academic literature, statistical analysis of global and domestic crypto-asset market data (Chainalysis, FSB, IMF, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine), comparative analysis of regulatory regimes and conceptual modelling of the mechanisms through which adoption factors influence regional development. Results. It is established that the regional adoption of digital financial assets is determined by four interrelated factors: the level of digital infrastructure and crypto-literacy, the degree of trust in traditional financial institutions, the quality of the regulatory environment, and the technological capacity of regional economic actors - the latter functioning as a multiplier with respect to the preceding three. It is demonstrated that under conditions of armed conflict, crisis-driven adoption of stablecoins constitutes a structurally distinct phenomenon from sustainable market implementation; however, this adoption is concentrated predominantly in the retail segment and remains unevenly distributed across regions. Five priority directions for DFAs application at the regional level are identified: financing post-war reconstruction through tokenisation of infrastructure bonds (RWA), increasing transparency in international aid distribution via blockchain, financial inclusion through the digital hryvnia and the Diia platform, reducing transaction costs in international settlements, and enhancing regional investment attractiveness through real-estate tokenisation, each assessed according to its current readiness level. A systemic risk profile is identified in which cyber risk dominates, followed by capital outflow and insufficient crypto-literacy risks, and threats to financial stability. Conclusions. It is substantiated that the strategy for implementing digital financial assets at the regional level in Ukraine should be grounded in the principles of phased rollout and a differentiated approach. Digitally advanced regions should be designated as pilot sites for CBDC solutions and tokenisation mechanisms, while regions with lower digitalisation indices should prioritise developing basic digital infrastructure and improving population crypto-literacy. The systemic prerequisite for any scenario is the completion of the regulatory framework: amendments to the Civil and Tax Codes to give full legal force to the Law on Virtual Assets and adaptation to the requirements of the MiCA regulation. Future research should focus on developing quantitative methodologies for assessing regional readiness for DFAs implementation and empirically testing the proposed conceptual model.