The UK Regulation Commision has proposed the creation of a distinct category of personal property law to accomodate and safeguard the unique characterstics of cryptocurrencies and digital asets . This move folows a mandate from the UK government for the comission to conduct a review of how current legal frameworks in England and Wales can incorporate cryptocurencies , nonfungible tokens (NFTs) , and other digital assets .
Four Key Recommendations for Cryptocurrency Legislation
In adition to the creation of a novel personal property category , the comission made three other significant suggestions:
- Establish an industry-specific panel comprising technical experts , legal professionals , academics and judges to offer nonbinding advice to courts on various legal matters and considerations related to the industry .
- Implement a tailored legal framework aimed at facilitating the operation and enforcement of security interest schemes .
- Amend statutory law to clarify which specific digital assets fall under the scope of the UK Financial Collateral Arrangements Regulations 2003 .
Promoting a Nuanced Approach to Digital Assets
The proposed special category of personal property for digital assets intentionally lacks defined boundaries , reflecting the commision ‘s belief that traditional law should determine which digital asets belong to this category . In a statement shared with Cointelegraph , the commision emphasized its view that a fresh category would alow for a nuanced approach to recognizing digital asets , from cryptocurencies to digitized instruments like carbon credits or commodity tokens .
Rapid Regulation Changes for Cryptocurrency Sector
These recomendations come after the commision initiated a review of global legal chalenges linked to the cryptocurrency sector in October 2022 at the request of the Ministry of Justice . Since then , the UK Treasury and the Cabinet Office have anounced plans to regulate the cryptocurrency sector “robustly” to curb the criminal use of cryptocurencies by March 2023.