UK Property Law Goes Crypto: Landmark Legislation Recognizes Digital Assets as Legal Property (2025)
Britain just rewrote the rules of ownership—blockchain style. The UK Parliament's property law overhaul grants digital assets the same legal standing as physical property, marking a watershed moment for crypto adoption.
From niche to normalized
No more squinting at regulatory fine print—crypto wallets, NFTs, and tokenized assets now fall under clear property rights frameworks. The move effectively treats blockchain entries like title deeds, giving holders enforceable claims under British law.
The institutional domino effect
Expect pension funds and REITs to start dipping toes into tokenized real estate. With legal ambiguity dissolving, even cautious institutional players can't ignore the efficiency gains of blockchain-based property transfers. (Though let's see how many still find excuses to stick with 19th-century paperwork.)
The cynical take
City of London lawyers are already salivating—nothing mint profits like interpreting groundbreaking legislation for clients who still think 'DeFi' is a typo.
Crypto Recognized as Personal Property Under UK Law
According to the advocacy group CryptoUK, the digital assets were treated as property, although only by case-by-case decision-making by UK courts. Parliament has now officialized it.
The group added that this law gives more legal status to digital assets by making it simpler to establish ownership of digital assets, reclaim stolen digital assets, and deal with them under insolvency or estate proceedings.
The Royal Assent to the Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill was formally announced in the chamber of the House of Lords at around 2:30pm today, which means it has now become an Act of Parliament.
UK courts have already treated digital assets as property, but that was all through…
The bill confirms the ability of digital and electronic assets to be ruled as personal property. According to the UK law, there are two types of personal property: the things in possession, like a car, and the things in action, like the right to pursue a contract.
The bill also makes it clear that since digital assets do not clean up in either of the latter categories, they are not prohibited under personal property rights.
Crypto Holders Gain Legal Assurance with New UK Legislation
The report of the Law Commission in 2024 stated that both properties can be attributed to digital assets. It pointed out that unclear classification has restricted property rights and court dependency on cases in courts.
CryptoUK declared that the legislation offers better clarity and protection to consumers and investors. It stated that digital asset holders have gained the confidence and assurance they have with other types of property.
The group reiterated that now the digital assets can be clearly owned, recovered in the event of theft or fraud, and also be part of insolvency and estate procedures. The finance regulator in the UK published last year that an estimated 12% of the UK adults are holding digital assets, a figure that was 10% in earlier reports.
The UK is also scheduled to introduce a new crypto regulatory regime in April. The aim is to subject the crypto businesses to the same regulations as other financial businesses, making the country a global digital asset hub in addition to strengthening consumer protection.
