International competition for digital asset business is real and intensifying, particularly across financial services, investment funds, payment firms and custody providers.
By providing statutory confirmation that digital assets are capable of attracting personal property rights, the Act delivers something that many competing jurisdictions cannot easily replicate – clearer access to proprietary remedies (including freezing injunctions and disclosure orders) where digital assets have been stolen or are in dispute, often the starting point for digital asset disputes. Those remedies are underpinned by the certainty of statute, the flexibility and depth of the English common law and a commercial judiciary experienced in complex financial disputes involving novel technology.
As a result, England & Wales is an increasingly attractive jurisdiction for organisations working with digital assets and cryptoassets, including for:
- Digital asset transactions, financing and fund structures
- Custody, safeguarding and trust arrangements involving cryptoassets
- Litigation and arbitration relating to digital asset disputes
For those in the financial services sector, particularly when structuring products, appointing custodians, or selecting governing law and dispute resolution clauses, this additional legal certainty is a practical advantage.
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