The applicability of property law rules for crypto assets: considerations from civil law and common law perspectives

Abstract

Crypto assets and their legal qualification hold an important place in the international legal arena. There are many public and private law aspects of crypto assets that require clarification. The first difficulty lies in defining what a crypto asset is. There are many different taxonomies of crypto assets, and these vary globally. Another challenging area which demands attention is whether crypto assets bear the features of objects of ‘property’ in private law. The answer to this question is important because it affects various areas of law, such as tax law, securities law, insolvency law, contract law, even conflict of laws. This paper focuses on whether and how property law rules should be applied to crypto assets and how the legal nature of crypto assets is embarked upon and handled differently in Common Law and Civil Law Countries.