UK government has proposed recognizing cryptocurrencies as personal property

The bill has been submitted for consideration in Parliament

12.09.2024 - 11:55

2 min

What’s new? The UK government has tabled a bill in Parliament that would recognize cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) as personal property. It also guides lawyers on how to handle ownership disputes such as divorce. The document will protect cryptocurrency owners, both individuals and businesses, who have been affected by fraud.

Bill on the government’s website

What else is known? The bill proposes to introduce a new category of property in addition to the existing “things in possession” such as money and cars, and “things in action” such as debts and shares. The new category would allow certain digital assets to achieve personal property status.

Earlier this year, the Law Commission, which considers and recommends changes to the laws of England and Wales, consulted on a bill to recognize cryptocurrency as property and published a final report:

“We conclude that some digital assets are neither things in possession nor things in action, but that nonetheless the law of England and Wales treats them as capable of being things to which personal property rights can relate.”

UK authorities have arrested former Pump fun employee for a $1,9 million platform hack

The developer was later released on bail

In April, UK authorities launched a sandbox to test trading in tokenized securities. It will run for five years and could lead to the creation of a new securities settlement regulatory regime.

Also in April, the country enacted an amendment that allowed law enforcement officials to seize and freeze criminal cryptocurrencies without a conviction.

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