Cryptoassets and property

The concept of property has always been, and remains, a vexed notion. Within civilian systems the elusiveness of the notion lies in part in the intersection of various distinct ideas within the law of property as expressed in distinct vocabulary: e.g., the distinction between biens (assets), choses (things), and droits (rights). Within common law systems, the comparative lack of attention to classification, and relative paucity in vocabulary for discrete concepts has led to much confusion but great flexibility. It is thus unsurprising to find that cryptoassets have been readily accommodated within common law systems’ vague notions of property. Among civilian systems, Francophone systems, which employ looser conceptions of chose than Germanic Pandectist systems’ strict conceptions of Sache (thing), are more accommodating of cryptoassets as property. What this comparative exercise demonstrates is that, depending on one’s conception of property, cryptoassets may (or may not) be property.