THE LEGAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE METAVERSE: PROPERTY, IDENTITY, AND VIRTUAL CRIME

Abstract

The metaverse ecosystem, characterized by persistent, interactive, and often economically active virtual environments, simultaneously strains private law’s property rights contract triangle, the digital extension of personality rights, and criminal law’s architecture of legality, proof, and jurisdiction. This article systematically examines core legal issues in three axes: (i) virtual assets and claims of “virtual ownership,” particularly NFT-based representations; (ii) digital identity and the legal protection of avatar-related harms; and (iii) virtual crime, with a focus on electronic evidence and cross-border jurisdiction. Treating the metaverse not merely as a technological novelty but as a normative friction zone between platform governance (“private ordering” through platform rules) and state law, the study combines doctrinal analysis, EU-anchored comparative inquiry, and a multi-case approach. The findings indicate that “virtual ownership” often functions not as classical property in rem, but as a bundle of rights (access, licensing, claims, token control, and account governance); that avatar-based harms make the digital dimension of personality rights particularly salient; and that, in virtual crime, the principal bottleneck frequently lies less in substantive definitions than in electronic evidence and transnational enforcement. The concluding section advances recommendations on conceptual clarity, grounding platform duties of care in positive law (notably the EU Digital Services Act), evidence preservation standards, and international cooperation.