UK Lawmakers Classify Digital Assets as Property

The digital assets markets in the UK were given a major endorsement on Monday, November 18th, when a panel of lawmakers concluded that under the UK jurisdiction digital assets are now property. As you can imagine, being a UK-based platform for asset tokenisation, Smartlands wholeheartedly welcomes the move. The path to continuous tokenisation of the coveted UK property markets is now much clearer for both newcomers and incumbent businesses. 

While the US and UK are moving almost in lockstep in terms of the efforts directed towards the digital transformation of the real economy, the measure taken by the UK lawmakers puts Britain slightly ahead, making the dream of a globalised legal framework for all types of assets one step closer. On Monday, a panel led by the senior High Court judge Sir Geoffrey Vos issued a 46-page legal statement addressing head-on the remaining uncertainties around digital assets and their underlying technologies.

By enlarge, the goal of the public consultation was to clarify definitions of crypto assets, with Vos commenting:

A legal statement said that digital assets “have all of the indicia of property”, which would grant them a similar legal standing. The panel elaborated that…

The decision has been praised by industry observers as a basis for wider adoption of the derivatives of the blockchain technology such as security tokens, digital assets, and smart contracts in the UK. “As the first-ever UK-based platform specialising in tokenising the real economy assets on the Stellar blockchain, Smartlands enjoys substantial footing on the issue; with the clarification by a panel of judges and legal specialists, our almost two-year headstart turns into a major strategic advantage for years to come,” says Smartlands CMO Yaroslava Tkalich.

Government-backed industry initiative, Lawtech, is part of the UK Jurisdiction Task Force that made the announcement. Director of the Lawtech Delivery Panel, Jenifer Swallow, added:

Ms Swallow went on to say that the worldwide smart contract market is expected to reach $300 million by 2023 as the World Economic Forum estimates 10% of global assets will be in one way or another registered on distributed ledgers by 2027.

Christina Blacklaws, the Panel Chair, was equally enthusiastic about the classification of crypto assets:

Since the UK is our home market, it gives us great pleasure to see the lawmakers finally being able to not only appreciate the reality of the current level of technology but to give clear direction to those willing to engage in the nascent yet extremely promising industry of asset tokenisation.