"On Tuesday, the Property (Digital Assets etc.) Act 2025 received Royal Assent from King Charles III, completing its passage through Parliament and creating a third, legally recognized category of property specifically for digital assets. The act passed both houses without amendment. The new classification places assets such as bitcoin, stablecoins and NFTs into a bucket separate from traditional "things in possession," like physical objects, or "things in action," like contractual rights."
""A third category of property now exists, and it finally gives legal protection to the sats you hold," said Susie Ward, CEO of Bitcoin Policy UK. Her group's Chief Policy Officer, Freddie New, called the act potentially "the biggest change in English property law since the Middle Ages." The reform stems from a 2023 recommendation by the Law Commission, which argued that digital assets did not fit neatly into existing legal categories."
The Property (Digital Assets etc.) Act 2025 establishes digital assets as a distinct third category of property in UK law. The act grants legal status to bitcoin, stablecoins and NFTs, separating them from physical possessions and contractual rights. The statute received Royal Assent and passed both houses without amendment. The reform implements a 2023 Law Commission recommendation that digital assets did not fit existing categories. UK courts had previously treated crypto as property through case law, but statutory recognition clarifies treatment in theft, fraud, insolvency and estate matters and aims to strengthen ownership proof and consumer protection.
Read at Bitcoin Magazine
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