Inheritance of virtual assets and deposits in a banking institution: gaps in Ukrainian legislation and prospects for overcoming them in the process of recodification of the civil code of Ukraine

The purpose of the paper is to analyze the legislation of Ukraine in the field of inheritance of virtual assets and bank deposits, to identify gaps and contradictions in their regulation, and to propose ways of overcoming them. The paper employs a comprehensive set of general scientific and specialized legal methods of cognition, which ensured the objectivity and completeness of the research. The study examines the peculiarities of inheriting such objects as the right to a bank deposit and virtual assets. It is noted that there is no proper legal regulation of the mechanism of inheritance of virtual assets. The adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On Virtual Assets”, which has not entered into force, does not eliminate this gap due to the absence of provisions regulating the inheritance of virtual assets. In the draft of Book Six of the Civil Code of Ukraine, proposed for public discussion, there is only one article that provides for the possibility of inheriting rights to digital property, without establishing a specific mechanism aimed at enabling heirs to formalize their rights to such property. Consequently, the proposed provision will not resolve the problem of inheritance of virtual assets in general, including cryptocurrencies, social media accounts, and other types of virtual assets. To address the issue of inheritance of virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies, social media accounts, and other forms of digital property, an appropriate mechanism should be introduced. Such a mechanism would provide heirs with the private key to the virtual asset, access credentials to the digital wallet of a service provider, or the possibility of applying to the court for access to such assets through judicial proceedings. The shortcomings of Article 1228 of the Civil Code are highlighted, particularly the impossibility of implementing in practice the simplified mechanism of inheritance of the right to a bank deposit. A comparative analysis is conducted of the inheritance of rights to a bank deposit under a will and under a testamentary disposition, both under the current legislation of Ukraine and under the draft of Book Six of the Civil Code. The advantages and disadvantages of testamentary disposition are identified.