The Day Property became Digital
4th December 2025 should arguably go down in the annals of crypto as one of the most important days ever.
No it’s not another record smashed by Bitcoin, it’s something far more important.
In essence, qualifying digital assets – which include crypto tokens, NFTs and stablecoins – are to be regarded as property. You might wonder why this is quite so important. Up until now, no one has been totally certain what these things are. As of now, they become defined and precise and that makes dealing with them very much easier.
Not only is it now clear to consumers and investors that Mister – or Ms - X owns this particular asset in the same way they own a “thing” like a house. They can be recovered in the case of theft or fraud and the law will be on the owner’s side – something that has not been certain until now. They will also be included in insolvency proceedings and for estate purposes. So they are the same in Law as your house, your clothes, your watch and that teddy bear you had when you were a child.
The additional benefit is that by providing a clear legal basis for ownership, or transfer, the UK has set out its stall for the growth of future financial products, and for the tokenisation of real-world assets (which is a massive new industry in the making) and for delivering more secure digital markets. These certainties will ensure legal protections required to enhance and progress the digital world.
As an aside I was involved in the consultations taken by the Scottish Government in respect of how Scottish Law would cope with this change, and very interesting it was too. You may or may not know that Scottish Law is different to English Law in quite a number of ways, and if you study one or the other, you have to go through a course and process to transfer from practicing whichever you trained in. I have a very good friend (who won’t object to me saying he is not the sharpest tool in the box nor particularly academic or even industrious) who – having failed his A levels - was sent to an Edinburgh crammer to get SOME qualifications. This achieved, he had to get a University place and this proved somewhat tricky. Eventually he secured a place at what I’m sure he will not object to me calling a second tier University in Scotland and to study law, as he rather fancied making oodles of cash in the City of London.
Finally getting down to some work, and at the end of 2 years (and degrees in Scotland are 4 years, not 3) he was called in to speak to what used to be called the Careers Office to discuss what he was going to do once he qualified. With great aplomb he announced he wanted a job with one of the big City of London Institutions – to be met by a deathly hush.
“You do realise that Scottish Law is different to English Law?” he was asked. And to which he replied in an extremely puzzled voice “No.”
Anyway, the net result is he never got to London but had a long and distinguished career in Scottish Law.
You may or may not be pleased to hear that Scottish Law can encompass exactly the same ideas as English in respect of Digital assets, which should make life easier going forward.
As a further aside, I recently sold some shares. Now of course I had already gone through KYC and AML for the Brokers and, in fact, the Registrars, and was somewhat surprised to hear that I was required to undergo a complete start to finish KYC process again with the Registrars. I’m glad to say they concluded I was a real, alive person, so that was good. More importantly, I reflected on the fact that had I had a digital ID held on the blockchain, none of it would be necessary. I could simply give whoever needed it access to whichever bit of my ID was required and ten seconds later hey Presto. In the event it took 3 weeks.
It's not a great surprise to hear that I am a great advocate for all things digital.
