Response to the Law Commission of England and Wales “Digital Assets - Call for Evidence”

Abstract

In this document, we respond to the Call for Evidence of the Law Commission of England and Wales regarding digital assets. We argue that the Law Commission's proposed criteria for possession create significant uncertainty for some types of digital asset, including security and utility tokens, domain names, digital files, and emails. We further encourage the Law Commission to consider the legal implications of its proposed reforms for post-mortem access to digital assets under succession law, so as to ensure that its approach will provide outcomes fit for the 21st century.

Keywords: Digital Assets, Property Law, Cloud Computing, Cloud Services, Customer Data, Information Ownership, Possession, Succession, Estate

JEL Classification: K1, K11, K36, O33, O34, P14