By: Mark Giancaspro* and Paul Babie**
Published: March 19, 2023
Abstract
This Article explores the “data object,” the United Kingdom Law Commission’s proposal for a third form of personal property designed to protect crypto-assets. It contains three Parts. The first examines the rationale for the data object’s recognition and its legal content. The second considers the “property question”: what does this proposed new category tell us about the nature and content of property itself, and which branches of government are best suited to effect such reform—the courts or the legislature? The Article concludes with brief reflections relevant to how other jurisdictions may follow the United Kingdom Law Commission’s lead in considering the data object as a possible third category of personal property.
*Senior Lecturer in Law, Adelaide Law School, The University of Adelaide, Australia.
**Bonython Chair in Law and Professor of Law, Adelaide Law School, The University of Adelaide, Australia.
Suggested Citation: Mark Giancaspro & Paul Babie, Cryptocurrency, Crypto-Tokens, and Crypto-Assets as “Data Objects”: A Novel Form of Property, 127 Penn St. L. Rev. Penn Statim 95 (2023).