Breaking news! Another major country recognizes digital assets as personal property

Source: Blockchain Knight

The UK Parliamentary Law Committee published the Property Bill on September 11, legally recognizing digital assets. The proposed legislation treats Crypto assets, NFTs and carbon credits as personal property under UK law.

This marks the first time in UK history that an asset has been explicitly included in the scope of English and Welsh property law.

Attorney General Heidi Alexander said: "Our world-leading legal services are an important part of our economy, helping to drive economic growth and keeping the UK at the heart of the international legal industry."

UK personal property law covers all non-land property interests, dividing them into possession (such as cars) and behavior (such as debts).

Alexander added: "It is vital that the law keeps pace with evolving technology, and the new bill aims to provide clear legal basis for complex property cases."

In addition, the bill also protects owners and companies from fraud and scams, and provides assistance to judges in controversial digital property cases.

At the same time, the enhanced protection measures are expected to attract new Crypto companies to the UK. According to rough estimates, this will increase the size of the local legal services industry by £34 billion.

The statement also stressed that English law governs about £250 billion of mergers and acquisitions worldwide and 40% of corporate arbitrations, so it is vital to keep the law up to date to maintain the UK's position.

The summary of the Law Commission's report acknowledges that digital assets are neither possessions nor acts under personal property law.

The report highlights that the UK Law Commission has introduced a new legal category for Crypto assets and other digital items.

This new category is described as "things associated with personal property rights", meaning that these assets can be legally owned or transferred, similar to physical property.

The report also states that the Law Commission deliberately avoided defining strict boundaries for this new category.

By not imposing hard limits, the law can remain flexible and adaptable, covering a wider range of digital assets as technology develops.

The document states: "These are not necessarily all digital things, but may also include milk quotas or certain carbon emission quotas. We refer to digital things that fall into the third category as 'digital objects'."

The Legal Committee also recommended the creation of a multidisciplinary project to develop and implement a legal framework to facilitate interactions, operations and enforcement related to Crypto assets.