Iain Young discusses the emerging legal landscape of digital assets in England & Scotland
- Digital assets are increasingly recognised as property in England and Scotland, but their intangible nature complicates legal issues like ownership and enforcement.
- England intends to integrate digital assets into its legal framework, while Scotland faces unique challenges, requiring potential legislative reforms.
- The complexity of digital assets underscores the need for legal reforms to address ownership, security interests, and insolvency implications.
As stated in the recent Law Commission report on digital assets published on 29 July 2024, digital assets are fundamental to modern society and the contemporary economy. They are used in growing volumes and for an expanding variety of purposes —as valuable things in themselves, as a means of payment, or to represent or be linked to other things or rights. Electronic signatures, cryptography, distributed ledgers, smart contracts and associated technology have increased the ways in which digital assets can be created, accessed, used and transferred. Such technological development is set only to continue. As technology advances and humans spend increasing amounts of time online, our relationships with digital assets
