The UK government has introduced the Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill to Parliament to formally recognise cryptocurrencies and other digital assets as a form of personal property under English and Welsh law. The bill, introduced on 11 September 2024, follows recommendations from the Law Commission’s 2023 report and creates a new third category of property rights so that certain digital assets—such as cryptotokens, NFTs, and carbon credits—can clearly attract proprietary protection. Until now, these assets sat in a legal grey area because traditional property law recognised only "things in possession" (physical items) and "things in action" (such as debts or shares), leaving uncertainty over how to treat digital holdings in private law disputes. By recognising qualifying digital assets as personal property, the bill aims to give courts clearer tools to handle disputes involving crypto and other digital holdings, including cases of fraud, hacking, insolvency, and division of assets in situations such as divorce or commercial litigation. The government frames the measure as both a consumer-protection step and a competitiveness move, positioning the UK as one of the first major jurisdictions to clearly embed digital assets into its property law framework and thereby reduce legal risk for owners, companies, and financial institutions engaging with these technologies.

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