Conceptual review of approaches to the definition of the concept “digital finance”

Information technologies are gradually penetrating deeper into all spheres of the world economy, which inevitably leads to changes. Under the influence of digitalization in practice, new phenomena arise that require theoretical understanding necessary for the purposes of their further regulation and development. When discussing the financial sector, public figures, scientists and researchers, representatives of the media are increasingly using the term “digital finance”, while putting different meanings into it. In the absence of a unified idea of what digital finance includes, the results of research by different authors are incomparable, which determines the relevance of the topic of this article. The purpose of this study is a conceptual review and systematization of the existing definitions of the concept of “digital finance”. Based on the results of the analysis of domestic and foreign publications on the topic, the authors identified four groups of approaches to determining the essence of digital finance, noted their advantages and disadvantages. The results of the study can be used to better understand the essence of “digital finance”, which is necessary to create a unified approach to measurement and evaluation, as well as further development of economic theory.