
Non-fungible tokens (NFT) have been recognised as property by the High Court, in a landmark case
Writing in this week’s NLJ, Racheal Muldoon, of 36 Commercial, counsel for the successful applicant, hails the court’s decision and explains the many implications of the case.
These includes empowering holders of NFTs to seek recourse in the courts of England and Wales, as well as potentially making NFTs taxable and capable of being held on trust and left as part of an inheritance.
Muldoon writes: ‘For the moment at least, there is no doubt that England and Wales is the most advantageous jurisdiction in the world when it comes to the protection of cryptoasset holders’ rights.’
In the case, she successfully persuaded the court that NFTs (a ‘unique piece of code that represents something tangible (eg a Rolex watch) or intangible (such as a digital artwork’ and which conveys rights to the holder) constitute property under the law and therefore can be restrained by way of an injunction.