Header image

Commodities in Focus Weekly - Digital assets and the (official) dawn of the third category of personal property

The Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill (the Bill), introduced on 11 September 2024, addresses a long-standing lack of certainty regarding the legal treatment of 'digital assets' under the laws of England and Wales, and once and for all upends the traditional binary approach to personal property.

The past few years have seen an exponential growth in 'digital assets'. These range from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and carbon credits, although given the flexibility of the term, a humble pdf file or email could also be categorised as a digital asset.

The commercial uptake in many forms of digital assets as new commodity classes has had to contend with laws of property developed over hundreds of years in the context of tangible physical goods, leaving the legal status of intangible digital assets in a grey area which the Bill seeks to address.

Click here to read more.

Share Article

Related Expertise

Adobestock 935699876
Trade & Commodities

Commodities in Focus Weekly - Issue 144

Find out more
Adobestock 910161890
Trade & Commodities

Commodities in Focus Weekly: JSC “Kazan Oil Plant” v Aves Trade DMCC [2025] EWHC 2713 (Comm)

Find out more
Adobestock 971764348
Trade & Commodities

Commodities in Focus Weekly - A cautionary tale for challenging arbitration awards

Find out more
Carousel Images6
Trade & Commodities

Commodities in Focus weekly – issue 141

Find out more