The aim of the TVTG is to protect users and to ensure confidence in digital legal transactions. It describes the rights and obligations of service providers who perform activities on TT systems. The TVTG is not apply only for digital assets (e.g. BTC). It also tokenizes analogue assets and therefore provides provides legal certainty both off-line and on-line. Digitisation requires that we be able to digitally map and transmit not only information but also values.

Tokens and the Token Economy

The token economy is a term referring to a digital economy, in which blockchain technology, or tokens, is used as a basis for the efficient transfer of rights and assets. Blockchain technology allows people to interact directly using these tokens without the need for an agent or intermediary. Sending digital values over the Internet has, therefore, become as cheap and easy as sending an e-mail.

The TVTG introduces a new legal entity with the token. The token can be used to represent "real world" rights on TT systems. A token is, thus, the digital representation of information on a TT system that can represent claims or membership rights for a person, rights to property or other rights and is assigned to one or more TT identifiers. The TVTG thus regulates the possession, ownership and disposal rights over tokens on TT systems.

Contents of the TVTG

The law contains a number of definitions of the individual elements and roles. It regulates the disposal of tokens, i.e. the power of disposal (possession), the right of disposal (ownership) and the delegation to service providers, such as the storage of a token by a service provider.

In addition, the TVTG contains the requirements and registration prerequisites (e.g. reliability under Art. 14, professional competence under Art. 15, minimum capital requirements under Art. 16) imposed upon TT service providers. The basic information that must be published in advance when issuing tokens (Art. 30ff) is also the subject of the law, as is the standardisation of a registration requirement for all TT service providers (Art. 12, see Art. 18ff for the registration procedure). In addition, the TVTG  places the TT service providers under the supervisory obligation of the FMA (Art. 39) and regulates criminal provisions (Art. 47ff).