The UK has officially recognized cryptocurrencies as property.
Date: 2025-12-05 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: IN WORLD
The Property (Digital Assets, etc.) Act 2025 has come into force in the UK, officially classifying cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other digital assets as a third category of property. The act establishes that such assets can be subject to property rights even if they do not have a tangible form or physical embodiment. This creates a clear legal basis for courts to consider cases involving digital assets, which had previously been problematic.
The law came into force on December 2, 2025, and applies to England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Its main goal is to update legislation and bring it into line with the realities of the digital economy. The CryptoUK association called this move significant for increasing user trust and strengthening the legal status of crypto assets. Experts emphasized that the UK has an opportunity to shape an international standard for regulating cryptoassets and stablecoins, but to do so, the industry must actively engage with legislators.
The new legal status of digital assets opens up several key opportunities: it simplifies litigation for fraud, ownership disputes, and asset loss, provides a framework for cryptocurrency inheritance, strengthens the position of exchanges, custodians, and institutional players, and enhances the country's competitiveness against regulatory pressures in the US and EU.
The adoption of the law is part of a larger transformation of the UK's approach to digital asset regulation. In September 2025, the FCA announced it would grant crypto companies exemptions from traditional financial regulations, recognizing that existing mechanisms are unsuitable for the digital asset market. At the same time, the regulator plans to tighten cyber resilience requirements following the major Bybit hack.
Furthermore, the UK and US have established a joint transatlantic working group on digital asset regulation, which is scheduled to prepare recommendations by March 2026. In October, the British government created the position of "Digital Markets Champion," responsible for implementing blockchain in financial infrastructure and developing the tokenization of government bonds. In November, the Bank of England announced plans to introduce limits on stablecoin holdings: £20,000 for individuals and £10 million for businesses.
The passage of the Property (Digital Assets, etc.) Act 2025 demonstrates the UK's commitment to adapting legislation to the digital economy and creating a secure, transparent, and competitive environment for users and companies working with digital assets.
