A new law from the UK government aims to make it clearer what the legal standing of digital assets like cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) is. This bill wants to add a new group to British law for these assets, calling them “personal property” or “things.”
Heidi Alexander, the minister of justice, said that this new classification will help the legal system keep up with changes in technology and make it easier to handle issues involving digital assets, like those that come up in divorce cases. Along with that, the bill tries to give cryptocurrency users better safety against fraud and scams.
The bill is a response to a study from the UK Ministry of Justice in 2023. That report said that even though some digital assets don’t easily fit into current property categories, they should still be seen as personal property.
This bill is one of the first things the Labour government has done to change the laws and rules that apply to digital assets. However, some experts think that it might take a while for the full effects and action to happen because of the schedules of the government and other political factors.
On a larger scale, similar changes to the law may be coming soon to other places. This is part of a growing trend around the world to better incorporate digital assets into existing legal systems.
