Digital Assets

A digital asset is any resource with economic value whose ownership is recorded and transferred on an electronic register; cryptocurrencies are just one type. Digital assets on a blockchain share four traits:

• Electronic record. Ownership is recorded in a digital register, usually a blockchain, rather than in a paper certificate or only in a firm's own books.
• Transferability. They can move from one holder to another. If they cannot, they are not crypto-assets under MiCA: its recital 17 excludes, for example, loyalty points that can only be redeemed with the business that issues them.
• Control by keys. Whoever controls the wallet's private key can move them, so key custody matters as much as the asset (see wallet and custody development).
• Programmability. A smart contract can set automatic rules: who may hold them, when they pay out or when they are frozen.

Tokenizing an asset is not the same as digitizing it either. Digitizing means putting it in a database or an electronic document; tokenizing means representing it with a token on a distributed ledger, with programmable rules and direct transfer between holders.

Digital assets fall into six types depending on the right they represent, and each type is treated differently. This is how they usually fit in the European Union:

Ten concrete examples:

• Bitcoin: the original cryptocurrency, with no issuer and no entity backing it.
• Ether: the native currency of Ethereum, used to pay the gas for each transaction.
• A euro or dollar stablecoin: in the EU, if it references a single official currency, it is an e-money token.
• Tokenized shares of a corporation: a security subject to securities law.
• A tokenized bond: debt issued and recorded on a blockchain.
• A stake in a building, held through the company that owns it.
• Tokenized gold, backed by bars held in custody (see precious metals tokenization).
• A utility token that gives access to a service within a platform.
• A governance token that carries a vote in a decentralized organization.
• An NFT that certifies the authenticity or origin of a work or a product.

The value of a digital asset comes from one of four sources: the right it gives over something external, the use of its network, its issuer's promise of stability, or demand for what it gives access to or what it is. Recording an asset on a blockchain does not create value by itself: it makes it verifiable and transferable.

• A right over an underlying asset. A tokenized share, bond, building or gold bar is worth what the right it represents is worth, and depends on that right being enforceable against the issuer, the custodian or the official register.
• Use of a network. For the cryptocurrencies the SEC classifies as digital commodities, such as bitcoin or ether, the Commission describes value that is tied to the programmatic operation of a functional crypto system and to supply and demand, rather than to the expectation of profits from the managerial efforts of others (Release 33-11412, Section III.A, digital commodities).
• A promise of stability. A stablecoin is worth what its backing reserve and the holder's redemption right are worth. In the EU, the issuer of an e-money token must redeem it at any time and at par value (MiCA, Art. 49(4)), and the issuer of an asset-referenced token must maintain a reserve of assets (Art. 36(1)).
• Access or scarcity. A utility token is worth the service it gives access to, and an NFT is worth what it certifies and the demand for that unique asset.

Fractionalizing an asset does not create liquidity by itself either: selling requires a market and a willing buyer.

United States

The SEC sorts crypto assets into five categories: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities (Release 33-11412, a Commission interpretation in effect since March 23, 2026). The first three are not securities in themselves, although they can be sold subject to an investment contract, which is a security; stablecoins may or may not be securities depending on their characteristics; and digital securities, that is, tokenized securities, are securities. The Commission adds that any crypto asset that is not a security, other than a payment stablecoin issued by a permitted issuer, could meet the definition of commodity under the Commodity Exchange Act (footnote 48; 7 U.S.C. 1a(9)). More detail in our guide to asset tokenization in the United States.

European Union and Spain

In the EU, a digital asset is either a financial instrument (MiFID II) or a crypto-asset (MiCA), and the two regimes do not apply at the same time. MiCA does not apply to crypto-assets that qualify as financial instruments, deposits, funds unless they qualify as e-money tokens, securitization positions and certain insurance and pension products (Art. 2(4)), or to crypto-assets that are unique and not fungible with other crypto-assets (Art. 2(3)).

• Financial instrument. MiFID II covers financial instruments issued by means of distributed ledger technology (Directive 2014/65/EU, Art. 4(1)(15), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2022/858, Art. 18). In Spain, transferable securities may be represented through systems based on distributed ledger technology (Law 6/2023, Art. 6(1)).
• Crypto-asset. MiCA classifies crypto-assets into three types (recital 18): e-money tokens, asset-referenced tokens and all others (Art. 3(1)(5) to 3(1)(7)). Offering an e-money token to the public requires the issuer to be a credit institution or an electronic money institution (Art. 48(1)); an asset-referenced token, that the issuer be authorized or be a credit institution (Art. 16(1)); and any other crypto-asset, that the offeror be a legal person and draw up, notify and publish a white paper (Art. 4(1)), subject to the exemptions in Art. 4 itself.
• Services. Holding crypto-assets in custody for clients, exchanging them, placing them or operating a trading platform are crypto-asset services (Art. 3(1)(16)), and providing them requires being an authorized CASP or one of the eligible financial firms (Art. 59(1)).

For a first take on your case, use our MiCA or MiFID II classifier.

Latin America

Each country uses its own term and scope. In Mexico, the Law to Regulate Financial Technology Institutions treats as a virtual asset a representation of value recorded electronically and used by the public as a means of payment for all types of legal acts, which can only be transferred electronically; legal tender, foreign currencies and assets denominated in them are not virtual assets (Art. 30). Unlike the EU definition of crypto-asset (MiCA, Art. 3(1)(5)), it requires use by the public as a means of payment. We work with each client's local legal counsel; see our country-by-country map of asset tokenization in Latin America.

We build the technology a digital asset runs on: the token, the platform where it is issued and managed, the wallets and the integrations with the firms involved.

• Tokens and smart contracts. ERC-20 for freely transferable assets and ERC-3643 when only identified investors may hold them, with minting, burning, pause and transfer rules.
• Issuance and management platforms. Investor onboarding with KYC/AML, holder register, payments and issuer dashboard, custom-built (tokenization platform development) or on an existing base.
• Wallets and key custody. For the issuer and, where the project requires it, for its clients, with the appropriate authorized firm when custody is on behalf of third parties.
• Integrations. With KYC/AML providers, custodians, payment providers, official registers and trading venues, connected in each project to the firms the client chooses.

How we do it

We start from your advisors' legal analysis and set the rules the asset will enforce; we design the architecture; we build and test on testnet; we audit the smart contracts before deploying to mainnet; and we maintain the platform. The date of the first issuance also depends on the documents and authorizations each case requires.

How we work

Unknown Gravity is a Spanish tokenization technology and blockchain infrastructure company. We build the technology and work alongside each client's legal counsel (US securities counsel in the United States, local counsel in Latin America) and the regulated firms each project needs. We are not a broker-dealer, funding portal, transfer agent, investment adviser, investment firm, ERIR, crypto-asset service provider (CASP) or law firm.

Official sources

• SEC: Application of the Federal Securities Laws to Certain Types of Crypto Assets, Release 33-11412 (Federal Register, March 23, 2026)
• 7 U.S.C. 1a: Commodity Exchange Act definitions (govinfo)
• Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) (EUR-Lex)
• Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments (MiFID II) (EUR-Lex)
• Regulation (EU) 2022/858 on a pilot regime for DLT market infrastructures (EUR-Lex)
• Spanish Law 6/2023 on Securities Markets and Investment Services (BOE, consolidated text, in Spanish)
• Mexico: Law to Regulate Financial Technology Institutions (Chamber of Deputies, current text, in Spanish)

This page is informative only and does not constitute legal, tax or investment advice.

Framework verified as of October 13, 2026. If your company wants to issue or manage a digital asset, we review the asset, the right it represents and the technology with you before any code is written. Talk to us.