Tokenisation and property law

The Chapter considers the implications of tokenisation for property rights. After briefly describing how tokenisation, by enabling the creation of the so-called smart property, can have many applications in the business sector, the Chapter analyses the main legal questions raised by the tokenisation of property rights, including a reflection on whether tokens themselves can be treated as objects of property. The Chapter then provides an overview of the application of property laws to tokenised property. It is observed how property rights transversally involve the different categories of tokens, therefore the analysis is structured not by type of token, but by category of assets, namely movable (physical) assets, immovable assets, and intangible or natively digital assets (jointly described as “incorporeal” assets). The conclusion broadens the perspective and reflects on the potential that tokenisation has to disrupt century-old state monopolies also in this field.