UK Government Introduces Bill to Clarify Legal Status of Digital Assets
According to CoinDesk, the UK government has introduced a bill to Parliament that addresses the legal status of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). The bill aims to classify these assets as personal property under UK law, provide clear guidelines for the legal profession in property disputes, and offer crypto owners protection against fraud and scams.
The proposed legislation introduces a new category of property, in addition to the existing categories of ‘things owned’ and ‘things in action’. This new category, called ‘things’, would allow certain digital assets to be recognized as personal property. Justice Minister Heidi Alexander stressed that this classification would help determine ownership during disputes such as divorce proceedings and protect individuals and companies from fraudulent activity.
Earlier this year, the Law Commission, which examines the law in England and Wales and recommends changes, published a consultation on draft legislation to label crypto as property. This was followed by a report on its findings, which concluded that some digital assets do not fit into the existing categories of ‘things owned’ or ‘things in action’. However, the law in England and Wales still treats these assets as being attributable to personal property rights. The Ministry of Justice noted that the findings primarily apply to a subset of digital assets, mainly crypto tokens. $BTC #NFT
