Crypto as a new type of property: Which countries have decided on the status of digital assets and why it matters

The Law Commission of England and Wales, tasked with reviewing and updating the law, wants to extend ownership rules to cryptocurrencies and NFTs (NFTs are digital assets whose uniqueness and ownership can be demonstrated and verified using distributed ledger technology (DLT). NFTs can be used to create a tokenized proof of ownership of a unique digital version of an underlying digital asset (images, video, or other digital content) or a physical asset (paintings, sculptures, or other tangible assets.). According to the document, digital assets could be equated to personal property. This will make life easier for crypto investors: it will be possible to recover losses in case of hacking or fraud through lawsuits. But the Сommission’s proposals would not apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have their legal systems.