UK Makes History — Crypto Now Officially Recognized as Legal Property

 

UK Passes Landmark Crypto Property Law

The UK has just taken a major step in crypto regulation: Parliament has passed the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent and thereby legally establishes cryptocurrencies and other digital assets as a new, third category of property. 

Under the law, digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins are no longer in a legal grey area — they now enjoy the same protection as traditional property under British law. 

What Changed: From Legal Grey Zone to Statutory Clarity

Previously, UK property law recognized only two classes of property: “things in possession” (physical items like cars, cash, gold) and “things in action” (legal claims such as debts or contractual rights). Digital assets didn’t fit neatly into either category, leaving legal uncertainty for crypto holders. 

With the new Act:

Crypto tokens, NFTs and other digital holdings are treated explicitly as property  a third, recognised property class. 

This means ownership, transfers, estate inheritance, insolvency cases, and recovery of stolen or lost digital assets can now be handled under a consistent legal framework.

As one industry voice put it, the change could be “the biggest shift in English property law since the Middle Ages.” 

Why This Matters: Protections, Confidence and Crypto Adoption

Legal certainty & owner protection

By codifying crypto as property, the law gives holders clearer rights: ownership, transferability, inheritance — and the ability to recover assets following theft, fraud, or insolvency. 

Better treatment in disputes and estates

Whether it’s recovering lost/stolen crypto, resolving disputes over holdings, or distributing digital assets during inheritance or bankruptcy, the new law places crypto on par with traditional property. 

Strengthened trust and institutional participation

Legal clarity tends to encourage institutional investors and businesses to engage with digital assets — the law signals to the world that the UK intends to be a leader in the digital-finance space. 

What It Doesn’t Do (Yet)

The law creates a framework but does not automatically declare every single digital token or asset as property — individual assets may still require case-by-case legal analysis under common law. 

Recognizing crypto as property doesn’t directly regulate broader crypto trading, financial services, or taxation — separate regulatory and fiscal measures will still be needed to tackle those aspects.

Conclusion

The passage of the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 marks a regulatory watershed for crypto in the UK. By giving digital assets a clear, statutory legal status as property, the UK has ended longstanding legal ambiguity and opened the door to stronger protection, clearer ownership rights, and greater confidence for both retail and institutional crypto holders. While some finer legal questions remain — particularly around how existing and future tokens are treated — the new law offers a more stable foundation for digital-asset ownership, recovery, and transfer than ever before.